The Nation - News from Jan. 7, 1988

New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, under attack for his controversial program in which some mentally ill homeless people can be involuntarily committed to institutions, lashed out at the Reagan Administration for what he called its inattention to the homeless problem and urged expanded federal help for such people. “All we can do is wait for Reagan to leave and Cuomo to come on the scene,” Koch said at the National Press Club in Washington as he predicted that New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo would be drafted for the Democratic presidential nomination and then win the 1988 general election. After Koch’s speech, a federal official disputed his contention that the Administration has neglected the homeless.