Photo: Mike Segar
President-elect Donald Trump chose Ben Carson to be the next Housing and Urban Development Secretary. Carson, a renowned neurosurgeon who comes from humble beginnings, dropped out of the presidential race early on. He isn't ashamed to tell his story of growing up in the projects. He also isn't ashamed to tell you how he feels about poverty and those living in it. If his past interviews and statements are any inclination of what is to come as the HUD secretary, we might need to start a prayer circle now.
Carson is known for being one of the best neurosurgeons in the world. His expertise in the medical field is vast and expansive, but just as Trump, he falls short when it comes to experience in government. And just as Trump, his predecessors had prior experience. Needless to say, this administration is starting to prove that anything is possible if you just believe. The current HUD Secretary, Julian Castro, is the former mayor of San Antonio, Texas. Castro is known for his urban development work in San Antonio. He brought in private sector investors, created more affordable housing and revitalized the downtown area. Before Castro was Shaun Donovan, who was known as a housing specialist. And now there is Ben Carson.
HUD is responsible for a number of things that are vital to our neighborhoods. It's responsible for the Section 8 housing voucher program. It's responsible for enforcing the Fair Housing Act, part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.It's also tasked with making sure funds from the Community Development Block Grant help to address community development needs. And that's just a few of the things it's responsible for. So how does Carson feel about HUD and its current programs?
Carson grew up in Detroit where his family depended on government assistance. Because he is familiar with the benefits of government assistance, he doesn't want to completely take away programs that help low-income families. “I don’t want to get rid of any safety net programs. I want to create an environment where they won’t be needed.” Carson told Jim Tankersley of the Washington Post. During his sit down with Tankersley, he also described what it was like as a young attending surgeon watching families cycle in and out of the hospital.“I was really struck by the number of indigent people I saw coming in who were on public assistance and who were not working. They were able-bodied people, and they were not working. I thought, ‘This is out of whack.’”
Carson may not be the worst choice for the job because he is familiar with the importance of the benefits HUD provides. But we can't expect his personal experience with government assistance as a child to serve as proper training for this position. He will be responsible for crafting out a policy agenda that tackles the continued housing crisis and diversification efforts in neighborhoods across the country.
It's going to take a lot of work for Ben Carson to prove he has the country's needs in mind. Honestly, its going to take a lot of work for Carson to prove to America that he even understands what our needs are. We can hope that he plans on putting in this work, but we'll just have to wait and see.
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