Donald Trump Picks Ben Carson to Head Housing, Urban Policy

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Dr. Ben Carson to oversee the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the transition team announced Monday.

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who challenged Trump during the Republican primary, became an early endorser of Trump after ending his own presidential bid.

“Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities,” Trump said Monday morning in a statement. “We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities."

He added: "Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country and is part of ensuring that this is a Presidency representing all Americans. He is a tough competitor and never gives up.”

Carson, who has no experience running a large bureaucracy, will find himself in charge of an agency with a $47 billion budget that oversees most of the nation's affordable housing programs and also manages $1.6 trillion in mortgage funds. The agency also plays a role in education, transportation and community development across the U.S.

Inexperience was reportedly the reason Carson had turned down other Cabinet options that Trump had offered, according to close adviser Armstrong Williams.

"He's never run an agency and it's a lot to ask," Williams said last month. "He's a neophyte and that's not his strength."

However, Carson has apparently changed his view on the matter.

“I am honored to accept the opportunity to serve our country in the Trump administration,” Carson in Monday's statement. “I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly by strengthening communities that are most in need. We have much work to do in enhancing every aspect of our nation and ensuring that our nation’s housing needs are met.”

However, Carson appears to have severe philosophical differences with the core of government programs at HUD, which he has said encourage "dependency." In a 2015 op-ed for The Washington Times, he labeled a new fair housing rule that uses big data to reduce segregation a "social-engineering" program.

"These government-engineered attempts to legislate racial equality create consequences that often make matters worse," wrote Carson. "Based on the history of failed socialist experiments in this country, entrusting the government to get it right can prove downright dangerous."

In an interview with Fox News last month, Carson said growing up in inner city Detroit and his experience treating patients in urban centers were his qualifications for the job of HUD secretary.

''I grew up in the inner city and have dealt with a lot of patients from that area and recognize that we cannot have a strong nation if we have weak inner cities," he said.

Shortly after that, Trump affirmed the qualifications, posting on Twitter, "I am seriously considering Dr. Ben Carson as the head of HUD. I've gotten to know him well--he's a greatly talented person who loves people."

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons