The Nation : Capital Homeless Get Aid

The federal government agreed to give $5 million and a decrepit building used as a homeless shelter to the District of Columbia, ending a 32-day-old hunger strike by Mitch Snyder and 12 other activists for the homeless, Mayor Marion Barry announced. The agreement also winds down the federal role in a dispute that grew from President Reagan’s 1984 election-eve promise--made after Snyder fasted for 51 days--to turn the 900-bed facility operated by the Community for Creative Non-Violence into a “model physical shelter.” Denny Brisley, an assistant White House press secretary, said: “We hope that the Congress will pass enabling legislation as soon as possible so that Mayor Barry may implement this agreement.”