House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) ripped into Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Tuesday in his first appearance before the committee since she took the gavel in January.
Ticking off concerns with an “outrageous plan” to reduce rental assistance, delays in providing disaster aid to Puerto Rico and a “cruel proposal” to bar undocumented immigrants from subsidized housing, Waters told Carson, “the department is actively causing harm.
”Carson released a rent proposal in April 2018 that would have hiked the rate paid by some aid recipients from $50 to $150.
“The rent proposal is to start a discussion…because we have so many perverse incentives in place,” he told Waters. “We have to come up with better, more efficient ways so we don’t leave people in a situation where they become dependent.”
Asked about the proposal to prevent undocumented immigrants from living in subsidized housing, Carson said, “we are following the law.”
HUD is already prohibited from providing financial assistance to unlawful residents under a law enacted in 1980. Currently, though, mixed-status families — in which at least one member is a legal resident and another is not — can receive pro-rated assistance as long as one member is eligible. About 25,000 families now living in federally subsidized housing have an ineligible member, according to HUD.
HUD has promoted the rule — which an internal analysis found could displace 55,000 kids who are U.S. citizens or legal residents — as a way to trim housing waiting lists for American citizens, a point Carson repeated today under questioning from Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.).
“There are hundreds of thousands who are waiting on the list,” Carson said.
“Congress has the responsibility for making the laws that govern us,” he added. “If in fact you want to explain to the American citizens on the waitlist … why we should continue to support families who are not here legally, I’d be happy to help you explain that.”
Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) slammed that explanation as hypocritical.
“Why, if you recognize that there is a housing crisis in our nation, that there are 4.4 million people on a waiting list … why did you request $9.6 billion less for HUD’s budget for fiscal year 2020?” Velazquez said.
“Do you understand why this sounds like you’re talking from both sides of your mouth?” she added.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine