Tag: Ben Carson

Trump Proposal Would Raise Bar for Proving Housing Discrimination

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — The Department of Housing and Urban Development is proposing to significantly raise the bar for civil rights groups seeking to prove that a landlord, insurance company or lender is guilty of housing discrimination.

The proposal, first revealed by Politico, would force civil rights groups to jump over five hurdles, instead of three, to demonstrate that a policy has had a discriminatory effect that violates the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which protects against discrimination. The proposal also maps out how landlords and other defendants can successfully fight back against those claims and states that the Fair Housing Act does not override state laws that regulate the business of insurance.

Civil rights groups have long used analyses of the effect of practices and policies to show that those practices and policies have harmed minority groups protected by federal civil rights laws. Such disparate analyses have been used to uncover discrimination in an era when racial prejudice and bigotry can be more subtle than in the past.

View the complete August 2 article by Lola Fadulu on The New York Times website here.

Exclusive: Carson seeks to clean up testimony on protections for homeless transgender people

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson on Thursday sought to clarify his testimony to a House committee about the Trump administration’s plans to alter protections for homeless transgender people.

Lawmakers grilled Carson on Tuesday about whether his department planned to roll back an Obama-era rule ensuring homeless transgender people are allowed to stay in single-sex shelters that match their gender identity.

Carson told members of the House Financial Services Committee that he is “not currently anticipating changing” the Equal Access Rule. But one day later, HUD unveiled a proposed rule that would allow federally funded shelters to consider “privacy, safety, practical concerns, religious beliefs” in deciding to admit a person, a change that critics say could result in discrimination against transgender people.

View the complete May 23 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Proposed HUD rule would strip transgender protections at homeless shelters

The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday proposed a new rule that would weaken Obama-era protections for homeless transgender people, allowing federally funded shelters to deny people admission on religious grounds or force transgender women to share bathrooms and sleeping quarters with men.

The proposed rule comes one day after HUD Secretary Ben Carson assured members of Congress the agency had no plans to eliminate the 2012 Equal Access Rule, which barred federal housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

When questioned by Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) on HUD’s treatment of transgender people, Carson said his responsibility is to “make sure everybody is treated fairly. ”

View the complete May 22 article by Tracy Jan on The Washington Post website here.

Dem Katie Porter absolutely destroys Ben Carson again after exposing him as a buffoon

Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) exposed Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s ignorance during a congressional hearing that went viral, but she worried the problem would not be seen as seriously as it should be.

Late-night comedians and social media users mocked Carson for mixing up an acronym for foreclosures with Oreo cookies, but Porter said she did not go into that House Oversight Committee hearing with the intent to draw laughs.

“My questions were serious — they weren’t designed to be funny,” Porter said.

View the complete May 22 article by Travis Gettys from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Ben Carson misheard a housing term as ‘Oreo,’ and other tense moments at a congressional hearing

When a freshman congresswoman asked Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson at a congressional hearing Tuesday whether he knew what the housing term “REO” was, Carson thought she was referencing the similar-sounding cookie.

“An Oreo?” the secretary asked.

No, said Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), her tone firm. She spelled it back to him, twice.

View the complete May 21 article by Colby Itkowitz on The Washington Post website here.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson says he intends to leave his post at the end of Trump’s term

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson says he’ll leave at the end of President Trump’s term. Credit: Alex Wong, Getty Images)

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson says he intends to leave his post at the end of President Trump’s term.

Carson made his remarks in a segment airing Monday evening on Newsmax TV, a conservative news outlet. In his two years leading HUD, Carson has dialed back civil rights enforcement at the agency and suspended Obama-era rules that had been aimed at fighting housing segregation and discrimination.

“I will certainly finish out this term,” Carson said during his interview with Newsmax. But he added, “I would be interested in returning to the private sector because I think you have just as much influence, maybe more, there.”

View the complete March 4 article by Tracy an on The Washington Post website here.

Newly emerged photo shows Ben Carson with key employee of sanctioned Russian oligarch

A 2014 photo shows HUD Secretary Ben Carson (center) at a gala with Alexey Komov (right), the point-man for Russian efforts to cultivate ties with American Fundamentalist Christians. Credit: Twitter screen grab

A photo emerges showing the HUD secretary with Alexey Komov, the main link between U.S. Christian

In the latest example of Russian officials rubbing elbows with members of the American right, a newly emerged photo shows Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson standing alongside a key employee of sanctioned Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev.

The photo dates to June 2014, and appears to be from Carson’s appearance as a keynote speaker at the 2014 gala for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), one of the most notorious anti-LGBTQ organizations extant.

Alexey Komov — shown in the photo to the right of Carson — has worked for years to ingratiate himself with the American far right, from partnering with American homeschool organizations to working with Christian fundamentalist groups to even liaising closely with Christian movie reviewers.

View the complete January 31 article by Casey Michel on the ThinkProgress website here.

How Ben Carson is rolling back fair-housing enforcement

HUD scales back investigations

In the two years since taking over the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary Ben Carson has defanged his own agency, pulling back on investigations into housing discrimination and downsizing his fair-housing staff and budget. Tracy Jan has kept tabs on Carson’s tenure and says the HUD secretary’s changes run counter to what the department was initially created to do.

Listen to Tracy Jan’s December 24 podcast on The Washington Post website here.

HUD official quits amid Interior Department watchdog controversy

A top political official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development resigned Friday after HUD Secretary Ben Carson said she was slated to be the Interior Department’s top watchdog, apparently by mistake.

HUD spokesman Raffi Williams said late Friday that Suzanne Israel Tufts, HUD’s assistant secretary for administration, “has offered her resignation and it has been accepted.”

Carson told his staff a week ago that Tufts would leave to become Interior’s acting inspector general on a temporary basis, as first reported by The Hill. The announcement alarmed Democrats and conservationists, who felt that an ally to President Trump would be unable to provide unbiased oversight of Interior and its secretary, Ryan Zinke, who is the subject of numerous investigations by the watchdog office.

View the complete October 19 article by Timothy Cama on the Hill website here.

Carson Grilled About Lead Paint and Mold in Public Housing

The following article by Jacob Holzman was posted on the Roll Call website June 28, 2018:

How to pay prompts heated exchange

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call file photo

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson was peppered with questions by lawmakers over the department’s handling of lead paint and mold in public housing, leading to a heated exchange over how to pay for fixing the issue.

At a House Financial Services Committee oversight hearing Wednesday, Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez, D-N.Y., quizzed Carson on the Trump administration’s fiscal 2019 funding request, which called for zeroing out the department’s public housing capital fund, a source used for repairs to public housing.

She raised the case of the New York City Housing Authority, which on June 11 entered into a $1.2 billion consent decree with the Justice Department over numerous living conditions issues, including for failing to meet federal lead safety requirements and to properly conduct inspections of housing facilities. Continue reading “Carson Grilled About Lead Paint and Mold in Public Housing”