Paging Dr. Carson, Affordable Housing Is On The Line.

During his January confirmation hearing, Ben Carson promised Congress and the American public that he would kick off his role as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development with a listening tour, learning from the beneficiaries of HUD programs, engaging with housing experts, and preparing to lead this critical department.

Less than a month later, Secretary Carson’s “listening tour” is turning out to be little more than a gaffe-filled series of photo ops. Carson already fumbled his way through Detroit and misstepped in South Florida, lauding the very programs he and President Trump plan on cutting from the HUD budget. This morning, Secretary Carson landed in Dallas, Texas.

Who exactly is Secretary Carson listening to on these trips?

It can’t possibly be the families that his budget cuts would harm. After all, the Trump-Carson proposal would kick 200,000 families out of their homes and slash billions from HUD’s budget that would harm children’s health and stifle small businesses. 

Instead of engaging in real conversations and facing the public over this harmful housing agenda, Secretary Carson appears to be sneaking into town at the request of wealthy donors, and giving the public little if any advance notice about his visits.

Maybe he’s embarrassed. We would be ashamed too if we proposed to do so much harm to so many Americans in such a short amount of time.

Secretary Carson repeatedly highlights his own ineptitude by continuing to praise effective HUD programs during his visits that the Trump budget proposes to eliminate with his consent. He has utterly failed to speak about the painful burden of rising rents, the urgent need for more affordable housing, or offer specific strategies to spark even greater investment and equitable growth in our neighborhoods and communities.

Secretary Carson should be listening to the tenants fighting against evictions, not ideologues and wealthy donors. He should be listening to the millions of people who benefit from HUD programs everyday: first-time homebuyers, working parents struggling to make the rent, and homeless veterans who have regained their footing.

We will keep you in the know as Ben Carson continues on the #CarsonListeningTour, but we need your help in #PagingDrCarson by spreading the word about CarsonWatch and adding more voices to the watch. Together, we’ll make sure he has to #ListenToUs next time he steps foot in one of our communities.

Follow us on Twitter @Carson_Watch and encourage your friends to #JoinTheWatch.

Your CarsonWatch Team

Why am I not being asked to call my Congressional representative? We take your time very seriously. The federal budget negotiations will take place in the coming months. Rest assured we will alert you when the time is right to take direct action.  For now, we are building awareness and growing our strong numbers so that our collective action will have maximum impact.