A HOLLOW TOAST

THURSDAY WAS a time for celebration for the city's homeless. With $6.5 million in federal money plus help that ranged from free electrical work from Pepco to beds built by inmates at the Lorton Reformatory, Mitch Snyder and the Community for Creative Non-Violence unveiled the newly renovated "Federal City Shelter" on Second Street NW. Sen. Mark Hatfield, instrumental in obtaining the federal funds, was there. Mayor Barry joined the toasts, too, because the city gave about $500,000 to the shelter, though the District government played no leadership role.

Three homeless people have died from the cold so far this winter, a winter in which there have been no record low temperatures and fewer nights in which the mercury dipped below freezing than there were last winter. The relatively mild weather was fortunate because there are 700 fewer beds for the homeless this year, and the city was not prepared to respond.

Early last year, it became known that there had been an increase in the numbers of the homeless. Several shelters were turning people away. Especially alarming was the increase in homeless families seeking shelter -- up from 39 families to 275. All this was news to ranking city officials. From March through December, one city government response was to house homeless families with children in The Annex, a rooming house frequented by drug addicts and prostitutes. Again, high-ranking city officials said -- you guessed it -- they didn't know.

It's still winter. The District government will reportedly spend $14 million on the homeless, but too much of that is spent foolishly, placing families in hotel rooms at $2,700 per family per month. A better plan, drawn up by city officials with the help of shelter providers, has been sitting on the mayor's desk for weeks. It would eliminate the use of hotels, try where possible to prevent people from becoming homeless, and use more transitional and permanent housing at less cost to the city.

At the celebration Thursday, Mr. Barry said that the money needed to finish Mr. Snyder's shelter won't come from the city. Then how does he intend for the shelter work to be completed? Until he figures that out, he ought to forgo the toasts

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