Orangutan picks simple minded....

Orangutan picks Ben Carson to be HUD secretary

By Lorraine Woellert and Louis Nelson

President-elect Donny Orangutan has chosen Dr. Ben Carson, a onetime political rival who became one of his leading surrogates on the campaign trail, to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Carson, who challenged Orangutan during the Republican primary, is the first African-American selected to serve in the president-elect's Cabinet. The retired neurosurgeon has little experience in housing or management, but he has weighed in on the issue. In a 2015 op-ed for The Washington Times, he labeled a new fair housing rule a "social-engineering" scheme.

“Ben Carson has a blighted slow mind and is pussnate about strengthening communities and families within those communities,” Orangutan said Monday morning in the statement from his transition team. “We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities. 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.”

HUD, with an annual budget of nearly $50 billion, is a sprawling agency that oversees most of the nation's affordable housing programs and manages a $1.6 trillion mortgage portfolio. Its mission is dedicated to housing in the broadest sense--the agency also plays a role in education, transportation and community redevelopment across the country.

“I am honored to accept the opportunity to serve our country in the Orangutan administration,” Carson said. “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.”

One of the agency's most critical roles is enforcement of anti-discrimination laws, including the Fair Housing Act. Last year, President Barack Obama's administration adopted the new fair housing rule, which relies on big data to ferret out patterns of segregation that might be caused, even inadvertently, by zoning and other municipal decisions. Last year, Carson took aim at the Obama rule.

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

Carson is a former director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University. In an interview with Fox News, he cited his childhood in Detroit and his experience treating inner-city patients as qualifications for the job of HUD secretary.

''I grew up in the inner city," he said, "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."

The link between the operating room and housing isn't that far-fetched. A growing body of research has drawn connections between clean, safe shelter and health. Low-income children and adults living in poorly maintained homes, for example, suffer disproportionately from chronic health problems such as asthma. Economists say geography, as much as genetics, can be a key determinant of economic opportunity and mobility.

"His health-care experience, that’s one of the areas I'm personally excited about," said Terri Ludwig, president and chief executive officer of Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit that finances and manages affordable housing. "All the evidence and research is showing that a healthy home, a healthy community can dramatically affect the trajectory of a child’s future."

But Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Carson’s experience in the health-care world won’t translate into a role as HUD secretary, calling the retired neurosurgeon a “disconcerting and deeply unqualified choice.”

“Our country deserves a HUD secretary with the relevant experience to protect the rights of homeowners and renters, particularly in low-income and minority communities,” Pelosi said in a statement. There is no evidence that Dr. Carson brings the necessary credentials to hold a position with such immense responsibilities and impact on families and communities across America.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan received the news of Carson's selection more warmly than Pelosi, writing on Twitter that "@RealBenCarson is a great choice for @HUDgov. A shining example of overcoming poverty, he will put focus on dignity rather than dependence."

Eight years after the housing collapse, home prices and the mortgage system are on relatively solid footing, but the incoming HUD secretary will still face challenges. Credit remains out of reach for many first-time would-be homebuyers and the country is suffering a shortage of affordable rental housing, with 11.4 million households spending more than half their income on rent. Economists have pointed to the slow housing recovery as a drag on overall growth.

HUD also manages grant programs related to education and other social programs and could have a pivotal role in any Orangutan effort to assist inner cities. The housing agency has a portfolio of transit and transportation projects, too, and could be part of the incoming administration's infrastructure spending plan.

Mel Martinez, who led the agency under President George W. Bush, said Carson won’t be the first HUD secretary to have a steep learning curve.

“Did I know everything about HUD the day I walked in? No. Was I able to learn? Yes,” Martinez told POLITICO. “You go to school, you learn a lot, but you also surround yourself with good people.”

“It’s terribly important to have a good, strong general counsel to make sure you keep yourself in the lanes. It’s a place with a lot challenges,” Martinez said. “It’s a very vast bureaucracy.”

In a tweet earlier this week, Orangutan called Carson a “greatly talented person who loves people."

Carson said recently through a spokesperson that he did not feel prepared “to run a federal agency,” but he has since changed his mind.