American Notes NEW YORK

Here's the latest holiday idea from New York, the city with the big heart: charging rent for beds in shelters for the homeless. Last week Mayor Edward I. Koch proposed that homeless persons who either have jobs or receive some kinds of welfare checks pay up to 30% of their income for a cot in one of the 24 city shelters. If the program gets under way at the beginning of next year, 2,400 of New York's estimated 10,000 shelter dwellers would be affected. Those with no income could continue to live in the shelters without charge. Said Hizzoner: "There is nothing free in this world." Replied Robert Hayes of the National Coalition for the Homeless: "His callousness is exceeded only by his timing."