SNYDER'S PLEA FOR TENANTS FAILS TO SWAY MONTGOMERY OFFICIALS

Mitch Snyder, nationally known advocate for the homeless, met yesterday with Montgomery County Executive Sidney Kramer and County Council President Michael L. Subin to ask them to delay enforcement of a county law that will displace hundreds of renters in Takoma Park.

Subin said of the 20-minute meeting, "We didn't change his mind and he didn't change our minds."

Snyder said of the county officials: "I found them to be almost totally lacking in understanding and compassion." He said he plans to work with a Takoma Park group formed in opposition to the law.

The County Council, following Kramer's recommendation, has refused requests for a one-year delay of the law, which was enacted in 1978 and gave property owners a decade to convert their houses to single-family use.

The county has promised to enforce the law with "compassion" and assist tenants in finding other housing. Opponents, like Snyder, argue that there is a crisis of affordable housing and enforcement of the law will worsen it.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.