Ben Carson betrays Baltimore

Ben Carson grew up in public housing, received government assistance, and devoted his career as a surgeon to the people of Baltimore. Now the agency he runs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is proposing divisive cuts from the top down on the people who need help the most.

Through the “Making Affordable Housing Work Act of 2018,” Dr. Carson wants to kick the ladder out from underneath millions of seniors, persons with disabilities and working moms. The Trump-Carson HUD Bill will triple minimum monthly rents (from $50 to $150) on residents who have little or no income. It will require residents to pay a greater percentage of their incomes toward rent and end deductions of large medical expenses before calculating rents. These cuts will increase evictions and homelessness at the same time that the Salvation Army’s Booth House, one of Baltimore’s largest shelters for families with children, is closing.

I am one of the many residents of Baltimore who rely on HUD-assisted housing to get by. I am putting my experience to work to create grassroots change, and I am writing to share why these cuts are a big step in the wrong direction.

Dr. Carson suggests that increasing my rent will make me self-sufficient — that it will finally push me to get a living wage job that does not exist for someone like me.