From News Services and Staff Reports
Column: AROUND THE REGION
Wednesday, October 15, 1986 ; Page C11
Mitch Snyder,
advocate for the homeless, wants a federal grand jury to investigate his claim
that Department of Housing and Urban Development officials lied to Congress and
a U.S. District Court judge about the preparation of a 1984 report on the
number of homeless persons in this country.
The report
estimates the number of homeless to be 350,000 rather than the 2 million to 3
million estimated by Snyder and other advocates.
In the latest round
of his two-year battle to disprove the report, Snyder sent a letter yesterday
to the foreman of one of the grand juries now sitting here asking that the
panel investigate his allegations of criminal misconduct without the assistance
of the U.S. attorney's office. Snyder called the procedure "very
unusual" because prosecutors usually present evidence and call witnesses
before a grand jury.
A preliminary investigation by the U.S. attorney's office last year found there was no basis to believe that HUD officials violated any laws.