The Nation - News from Sept. 20, 1989

Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp was jeered during a visit to a Hartford, Conn., soup kitchen before he gave a speech pledging to speed up government aid to the homeless. Kemp was surrounded by reporters and photographers in the doorway of St. Elizabeth’s House soup kitchen, and never made it inside the room. Later, during an impassioned talk to a group of federal officials, Kemp announced a joint venture between HUD and a philanthropic group, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to create as many as 1,200 housing units in eight cities. HUD will provide rent subsidies worth about $36 million over five years and $2.4 million in foundation grants will be used for support services.