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HUD Secretary Ben Carson leads subsidized renters & union employees into uncertain future

by Lynda Carson (tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com)
As the federal employees, including HUD employees, and HUD’s subsidized renters experience a state of panic regarding the future of HUD and it’s subsidized housing programs, the future seems very grim and uncertain under the fascist right-wing Trump regime, and the new Hud Secretary, Ben Carson!
HUD Secretary Ben Carson leads subsidized renters & union employees into uncertain future

By Lynda Carson - March 3, 2017

Oakland - On Thursday March 2, in a vote of 58-41 the Senate has reportedly confirmed Ben Carson to be the new secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with most Democrats voting against the new HUD Secretary. Some Democrats including Angus King of Maine, Jon Tester of Montana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Mark Warner of Virginia, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Heidi Heitcamp of North Dakota, and Joe Donnelly of Indiana joined the right-wing Republicans in voting for Ben Carson.

According to HUD, the Oakland Housing Authority 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.

San Francisco has 9,711 units in it’s section 8 subsidized housing inventory, and 3,756 units in it’s low rent inventory. San Francisco is in the process of privatizing more than 4,584 public housing units under the RAD program. South San Francisco has 80 units in it’s low rent inventory.

There are approximately 1.2 million households living in public housing units, managed by around 3,300 Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) across the nation.

Additionally, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), the Housing Choice Voucher Program (section 8 voucher program) assists more than 2.2 million low-income households across the nation including veterans, the chronically ill, elderly, blind and disabled.

The new HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, does not have experience with HUD, housing policy or mortgage policy experience, and he does not have any experience running a government agency, or local housing authority.

HUD was established in 1965, and is a cabinet-level agency that is responsible for overseeing and implementing federal housing assistance programs for lower-income households. This includes a wide variety of programs, including public housing, the Housing Choice Voucher Program, the project-based section 8 rental housing program, FHA mortgage insurance programs, the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), in addition to funding programs for homeless shelters, and other vital programs important to the American public. Since it’s inception HUD has been responsible for more than $1.655 trillion and it’s various programs according to the Committee on Financial Services.

HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, is taking charge of HUD during a long period of low morale for HUD’s union employees during 2016, and during 2013.

As federal agencies presently prepare for a drastic 10 percent in budget cuts and more as a direct result of President Donald Trump’s recent attack on federal agency non-defense programs, there are many federal workers including union employees of HUD who are reportedly very concerned about their jobs at the moment, according to Ashaki Robinson Johns, in a Washington Post article. “A lot of people are not even here to make any of these budget decisions,” said Ashaki Robinson Johns, president of Local 476 of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents Housing and Urban Development employees around Washington. “The acting leaders are just waiting.”

Reportedly, Ashaki Robinson Johns sees some irony in the president’s pledge to shield Medicare and Social Security but allow cuts to other programs that serve low-income families.

“You can’t say you’re not going to touch Social Security and you’re going to cut housing vouchers,” she said. “We all serve the same people.”

HUD’s union employees have no idea how much they are greatly appreciated by HUD’s subsidized renters in public housing, including renters in the Housing Choice Voucher Program, and the project-based section 8 rental housing units, who are also very concerned about their future under the fascist right-wing Trump regime. Many of the people that HUD’s union employees have helped to keep a roof over their head include the poor, elderly, chronically ill, blind, disabled and low-income families with children.

Many people across the nation also see some irony in the fact that the Trump family is profiting from section 8 renters at the same time that President Donald J. Trump is pushing for $54 billion in cuts to our nations non-defense programs, including to HUD’s subsidized housing programs, so he can grab the money and waste it on the military and security.

As reported in Poor Magazine and the Indy Bay News Wire, tenant activists are presently urging low-income renters in HUD’s subsidized housing programs to contact their representatives to speak up in support of HUD’s subsidized housing programs. In addition to the $54 billion in budget cuts that Trump wants, additional massive budget cuts to the federal government are being proposed ranging from $6 trillion to $8.6 trillion, and to as much as over $10 trillion during the next ten years.

As the federal employees, including HUD employees, and HUD’s subsidized renters experience a state of panic regarding the future of HUD and it’s subsidized housing programs, the future seems very grim and uncertain under the fascist right-wing Trump regime, and the new HUD Secretary, Ben Carson.

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

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