Ben Carson needs to oppose the proposed $6.2 billion budget cut to HUD

Ben Carson needs to oppose the proposed $6.2 billion budget cut to HUD

Lynda Carson - April 24, 2017

Oakland - At a time when a disastrous proposed $6.2 billion budget cut to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) threatens the Oakland Housing Authority with the possible loss of 611 section 8 housing choice vouchers ( Housing Choice Vouchers) or more, HUD Secretary Ben Carson has reportedly been touring around the country on a phony listening tour. As bizarre as it may sound, Ben Carson has been on a phony listening tour as his own agency and programs that he allegedly supports, is on the chopping block and facing massive budget cuts by the Trump regime.

Meanwhile, Ben Carson is being called out by community organizers, and reportedly protesters have hit the streets protesting against the proposed $6.2 billion in cuts to HUD. Reportedly, last Thursday nine people were arrested in New York City for protesting against the proposed $6.2 billion in budget cuts to HUD, that HUD Secretary Ben Carson supports. Activists claim that the Trump regime is proposing to kick everyone out of public housing in the next five years.

Even the union members who work for HUD have condemned the proposed $6.2 billion in budget cuts to HUD, and claim that it is a 14% reduction in funds to HUD, that include plans to reduce HUD salaries and administrative expenses by 5%. According to Local 476, “Almost one-third of the cuts would be from the public housing capital and operating funds. These cuts would hurt low-income families by reducing the availability of subsidized housing vouchers and severely reducing funding for major repairs at public housing, where facilities are already in poor condition. The proposed budget would also reduce funding to house the elderly by about 10%, to house people with disabilities by almost 20%, as well as Section 8 housing and vouchers for homeless veterans. Funding for the Community Development Block Grant Program and the HOME Investment Partnerships Program would also be cut.”

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP): “If a 15 percent cut were applied evenly across HUD programs in 2018, 625,000 households would lose the vouchers or other “Section 8” assistance that helps them to live in private apartments at an affordable rent, and as many as 200,000 other households could lose public housing or other rental assistance.  (These estimates reflect expected increases in rental costs next year.)  The vast majority of these cuts would fall on seniors, people with disabilities, or families with children, putting many at risk of eviction and even homelessness.”

HUD Secretary Ben Carson needs to oppose Trump’s proposed $6.2 billion budget cut to HUD. However, Ben Carson supports Trump’s proposed $6.2 billion in budget cuts for HUD, and has offered few to zero details in regards to how he will deal with the existing housing crisis that has spread across the nation. Reportedly, his bizarre appointment to HUD has resulted in nothing short of bewilderment and frustration for housing advocates so far. Before he became the latest HUD Secretary, Ben Carson did not have any experience in housing policies or experience in running a housing agency.

According to estimates from the Affordable Housing website estimator, the Oakland Housing Authority faces a disastrous $23,273,475 in federal budget cuts due to the Trump regimes proposed budget cuts of $54 billion for FY 2018, including $6.2 billion to $6.7 billion in proposed budget cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

This includes $7,076,798 in budget cuts and elimination of the Community Development Block Grant program, $2,159,809 in cuts and elimination of the Home Program, $4,455,393 in cuts from the Public Housing Capital Fund, $1,129,534 from the Public Housing Operating Fund, and $8,451,329 in cuts to the Housing Choice Voucher Program.

According to HUD, the Oakland Housing Authority (OHA) has 13,422 federally subsidized housing units in it’s section 8 inventory, and 2,122 units in it’s low rent inventory, formerly known as public housing units.

As a result of the proposed budget cuts to HUD, the Oakland Housing Authority may lose 611 or more section 8 vouchers (Housing Choice Vouchers), placing thousands of elderly, disabled, chronically ill, and low-income renters at risk of homelessness. The widespread damage that will occur to Oakland’s affordable housing programs if the proposed budget cuts to HUD take effect, will place thousands of Oakland renters at risk of homelessness, and higher rents they cannot afford to pay.

Making matters worse, according to Carson Watch, a group of activists keeping a close watch on Ben Carson’s activities, reportedly HUD Secretary Ben Carson has failed in his phony attempts to convince housing advocates that the proposed budget cuts to HUD will be replaced in a proposed infrastructure plan that has not been released yet by the Trump regime. An infrastructure plan to partially fund HUD that fascist right-wing Republicans in Congress would have to vote for, which is very unlikely.

Due to the severity of the proposed budget cuts to HUD, the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, the National Association of Housing Redevelopment Officials, and the Public Housing Authorities Directors Association jointly sent a letter to members of Congress seeking funding for their public housing projects all across the nation.

The Trump regime’s proposed $6.2 billion in budget cuts to HUD, also threatens the Section 8 voucher holders and the disabled and elderly renters in around 155 low-income affordable housing projects in Oakland with higher rents, or eviction from their housing. The proposed $6.2 billion in budget cuts to HUD will disproportionately have a major impact on Black/African-American women because such a high percentage of them reside in HUD’s subsidized housing programs.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson Fails To Offer Details On How He Will Address The Housing Crisis

Instead of receiving details on how HUD Secretary Ben Carson plans to deal with the housing crisis all across the nation, what housing advocates are getting from the phony listening tour of HUD Secretary Ben Carson, in addition to the lies and propaganda from the Trump regime, are a bunch of dumb stories by Ben Carson, about Ben Carson.

Carson likes to publicly brag about himself while telling people stories on the listening tour, including how he used to only operate on the brains of children. Carson likes to brag about how he refused to operate on old people because they might be dead in five years, as crazy as that sounds. Just try to imagine being a senior citizen who desperately needed brain surgery to be able to live longer, but you faced discrimination because Ben Carson refused to operate on old people while he was a surgeon. This story was told by someone who was recently at a National Low-Income Housing Coalition conference, while Ben Carson was a speaker there bragging about his past.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson Is Short Of Principal Staff To Run HUD

Not only has HUD Secretary Ben Carson been busy bragging about himself on his phony listening tour, but while doing so he has allowed HUD to be placed at risk because he has not staffed the multi-billion dollar agency properly with enough principal staff needed to run the massive $49 billion agency.

Presently, HUD is lacking in an Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public and Indian Housing, an Assistant Secretary for the Office of Community Planning and Development, an Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, an Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, an Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations, a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, a President, of Ginnie Mae, a Chief Information Officer, an Assistant Secretary for Field Policy and Management, and a Chief Operations Officer. This is a poor way to run an agency that had a $48.9 billion budget in 2017.

Students In Cairo, Illinois, Are Being Ignored By HUD Secretary Ben Carson

Additionally, in response to HUD’s recent decision to demolish two public housing projects and force the renters out of their public housing in Cairo, Illinois, reportedly a group of 6th graders wrote letters to Ben Carson asking him to help save their school and community. Reportedly, Carson has ignored the pleas of the students as he wandered off to his next stop on his phony listening tour.

Additional reporting reveals that a class action lawsuit has been filed against the Alexander County Housing Authority in Cairo, over allegations of discrimination, and rent overcharges.

More details about the proposed $6.2 billion in budget cuts to HUD are expected to be released sometime in May.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com


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