Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Homeless Advocates Camp Out at Capitol

Several hundred people rallied at the U.S. Capitol and prepared to camp overnight on the grounds to publicize their call for restoration of $25 billion cut from the federal housing budget since 1981. David Hayden of Roanoke, Va., an organizer of the Housing Now march on Washington last October, said that members of Congress promised at that time to push for renewed spending on housing for the poor. The Easter rally, march and sleep-in at the Capitol were the last events of a “winter campaign” organized by the Community for Creative Non-Violence and the National Coalition for the Homeless. Activists from across the nation have alternated, for a week at a time, sleeping below a bridge under Interstate 395 in the southeast quadrant of the District of Columbia. “I know we’ve been successful,” Hayden said.