Members will have five legislative days within which to submit materials for inclusion in the record. This is entitled the future of housing in america, oversight of the department of housing and urban development. I now recognize myself for three and half minutes to give an Opening Statement. Today we welcome the 17th secretary of the department of housing and urban development, doctor ben carson for his first appearance before our committee. Welcome. At least in one respect, he may be among the most qualified individuals to ever serve as hud secretary. Why . Because secretary carson was raised by a single mother who had a third grade education. He grew up in poor communities in detroit and boston that he lived in multi Family Housing with boarded up windows and doors, surrounded by sirens, gangs, and murders. Not only does he understand poverty personally in thi viscerally, he understands what it takes to escape it and he i passionate about helping others escape as well. He also understands huds approach to the laminating poverty and urban decay too often failed, and thankfully, he is committed to changing it. When it was created 52 years ago, hud was intended to be the main weapon in the war on poverty. 52 years later, and one point 6 trillion, the poverty rate remains basically unchanged. Hud has failed to live up to the noble aspirations of its birth. We do not wish to diminish the valuable work it does. It is an invaluable part of the nations safety net, especially housin housing for the elderly and disabled, but i remain all for the ablebodied, there is no better Affordable Housing program than a growing economy creating better jobs, bigger paychecks and brighter tomorrows. After suffering eight years of bad policy leading to a sluggish economy, it has been growing at barely half of the historic nor norm, working americans deserve better. They deserve fundamental tax reform as proposed by the president and republicans, a fair flatter, simpler, more competitive tax system. There hasnt been any significant tax reform in a century that hasnt grown the economy and grown tax revenues. I remind all after the tax plan was passed the economy grew by 48 and federal revenues grew by 66 . It erased a fivepoint Million Dollars deficit and turned it into a threepoint to billion dollars surplus. With the reagan changes they grew by fivepoint to percent and federal eve revenues surged by 28 . Even going back to the coolidge era, a series of tax relief measures passed resulted in 4. 7 growth. Weve seen it time and time again when we remove the burdens of excessive taxation and allow the American People to keep more of what they earn, we unleashed the potential to create prosperity and opportunity for everyone. Thats not economic theory, its economic history and at the very embodiment of Affordable Housing. I also wonder, how can one be for Affordable Housing yet oppose allowing working americans to keep more of their paychecks . Thats exactly what the republican tax reform framework does. It allows working americans to keep more of their paycheck. I look forward to hearing more of the secretarys new vision for hud and the programs that he and his team are beginning to reform. I now yield to the Ranking Member for an Opening Statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. America is currently in the midst of the worst housing crisis that we have ever experienced. It is hitting our lowest income families the hardest. According to the National Low Income coalition, the United States has a shortage of sevenpoint to million affordable until units for low income households. Our country is also at a virtual standstill when it comes to reducing homelessness. In some parts of the country, homelessness has reached crisis proportions. We also face homeowner homeownership challenges with minority homeownership rates continuing to lag even as the Housing Market recovers. In the face of the immense Housing Needs in our country, President Trump chose doctor ben carson to serve as the head of the department of housing and urban development. The secretary of hud is supposed to be at the forefront of our efforts to create strong communities, expand, access to safe, decent and Affordable Housing and in force fair housing rights. Housing is the foundation on which our entire society is built. It is platform for economic mobility and wellbeing. It is a crucial part of our national economy. It is a necessary human right. We need strong leadership and a bold vision for hud in order to expand access to Affordable Housing in this country. Unfortunately, i have seen nothing to indicate that secretary carson is up to the challenge. Secretary carson has expressed views that are deeply alarming and antithetical to his role at hud, such as describing poverty as more of a choice than anything else and saying he doesnt think Public Housing should be to comfortable. His few actions so far as hud secretary are deeply troubling as well. Secretary carson supported a budget that flashes funding for critical Housing Programs and proposes harmful rent increases on some of the most vulnerable American Families. He is also moved to rollback important Obama Administration policies and initiatives with little or no explanation. I am very much looking forward to hearing from secretary carson today about his actions so far and his plan for serving our nations most vulnerable families. I think you mr. Chairman, and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair recognizes the german from wisconsin, mr. Duffy. The chairman of the housing and insurance subcommittee for one and half minutes. Thank you. Overhear mr. Carson. Type. Its hard to find people. Welcome. I dont know if it secretary or doctor or doctor secretary, welcome whatever the proper title is pretty think you can tell youre gonna be in for an interesting hearing today based on the Opening Statement of the Ranking Member. I would note that poor people have been. [inaudible] for the past eight years and minorities have fared wors worse than the rest of the population, and i would argue with a growing democracy, bigger government, youve got the middle class. Poor people get poor, rich people get richer, it happens whenever you implement these policies, and to go back to a system that gives people a hand up that helps move them from poverty like yourself into the middle class, one of the greatest Brain Surgeons the country has seen is the American Dream and the american story. Im looking forward to your testimony today. I know you have a lot of reforms that you want to discuss with us and im looking forward to hearing that. Id also like to hear your vision, because the prior secretary, when they would look at success of hud, success was viewed in the realm of how many people do we get into the system. How many people do we help through hud versus the mentality of how many people do i get in, but many people can i move out of the system. How many people can i get to stand on their own 2 feet. What is the measure of success and i look forward to your views on Housing Finance reform, role poverty and my time is up. I yield back. The time for the german has expired. We now recognize the gentleman from missouri, the Ranking Member of the housing and insurance subcommittee, for one minute. Thank you. The housing future of america strikes me as very significant. I have opening comments but i might be of greater value if i just tell you that i sat down with Shaquille Oneal to tell him how his fatherinlaw grew up. We grew up to box apart. I lived at 405d bailey and he lived at 512 in the projects. I ended up getting the opportunity to move up faster than they did. My father saved money, bought a lot, bought a house, moved the house to the lot that i mentioned to you, and i always think, what wouldve happened if nobody had helped my mother and father as they were struggling to make a living for four children. My time is up but i just want to say i have Three Sisters with degrees, one with a phd. What would happen if they had ignored us . Housing is important to me. I yield back. The time of the gentleman has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, the vice Ranking Member for one minute. Thank you mr. Chairman, thank you Ranking Member waters but im glad you are having this hearing. Secretary, im glad your here. The condition of americas cities and towns is the subject that is the jurisdiction of this committee and your department, and i think in either case, for some time to be fair to you, preceding your entry into this position, that subject has not gotten nearly the attention it should. Unfortunately, for decades, important investment in cities and towns, the home program, they face really deep cuts. I grew up in flint, just around the same time you were growing up in detroit. We had a similar childhood experience. A lot of people know flint now has of this terrible crisis that it is facing, coming out of this poisoning of its water, but the truth behind flynns story is that it was on the brink of insolvency im anxious to hear how you can swear your suggestions. Time of the gentleman has expired. We welcome the honorable ben carson. This is the first time he has appeared before this committee. He was sworn in as the 17th secretary of the u. S. Urban development o in 2017. He earned a bachelors degree at yale and received his m. D. From the university of michigan medical school. Previously he served as director of pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins childrens center. Without objection, the written statement will be made part of the record. Sector carson, you are now recognized to give an oral presentation of your testimony. Welcome. I dont think the microphone is on secretary, if you could turn the microphone on. The red light is on. Its on now. Thank you chairman, Ranking Member, members of the committe committee, thank you for inviting me to discuss the work that we do at the department of housing and urban development. My plans for filling the mission with fidelity to our congressional mandate in the best interest of the American People. First, please know right now hud is involved in the federal response to multiple hurricanes that devastated areas of texas, florida, georgia, puerto rico, and the u. S. Virgin islands. Huds team is correlating with our federal state territory and local Agency Partners in the field, providing Housing Solutions for survivors and helping hud assist the clients and fha insured followers. In the longterm, hud will play a key role in the Recovery Efforts in these disaster impacted regions as they rebuild. Helping these communities is and will remain a priority for me and this administration. America has changed greatly since hud was established as part of Lyndon JohnsonsGreat Society programs, half a century ago. We must learn to evolve with the country. Many Americans Still struggle to find Affordable Housing. Chronic homelessness continues to plague tens of thousands of our countrymen and many millions remain mired in poverty rather than being guided on a path out of it. History has made clear that spending more taxpayer dollars does not necessarily create better outcome. We must constantly evaluate our programs to ensure that we are delivering services effectively and efficiently to huds constituents. And responding to todays challenges with the best practices and technology. Since i arrived at hud in march, it has been my mission to employ the wealth of knowledge held by career staff to improve our services, reform our programs, and remain careful stewards of taxpayer dollars. After several months of hard work, our team has outlined a bold plan for institutional reform and improvement that will better serve all americans. Its called a forward initiativ initiative. The policy elements of the forward initiative, each fall under whats name the three hours. Reimagine how hard works, restore the American Dream and rethink American Communities. First, reimagining how they work refers to our internal processes. Working conditions, and training. The goal of every improvement made at hud is to provide Better Service for those in need. Second, our job is to restore the American Dream, getting americans back on their feet and permanently improving their lives, of course, it is committed to continuing to serve those families that might always need someone to lean on. Additionally, we have an opportunity to eliminate veterans, homelessness in america. They sacrificed for our country and deserve all the support we can give. Finally, we need to rethink American Communities and how we can make them thrive, expanding Community Investment through publicprivate partnerships produces better results than heavyhanded government intervention. It is also our special priority to help more American Families live in Healthy Homes free of lead hazards and other poisonous substances. As a doctor ive seen firsthand the tragic consequences of childhood exposure to dangerous building materials. Ridding our homes of these hazards is a worthy cause with great benefits to future generations. While pursuing its mission to provide safe, decent and Affordable Housing for the American People, the hud team is also cognizant of its vital duty to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars. The president has directed federal agencies to take special care against burdening American Families and their businesses with unnecessary and expensive relations. Hud is reviewing its extensive regulations to review compliance cost, Regulatory Burden and build a more efficient and effective agency. Let me close by reiterating the interest and my personal interest in Housing Finance reform. Hud will be an active participant in this critical dialogue because of our fundamental housing mission, and because our fha Mortgage Insurance Program and our jenny mae mortgagebacked security guarantee are large and vital components of the nations Housing Finance system. Housing finance reform should be built on shared goals of ensuring a wellfunctioning Housing Finance system that provides access for credit worthy borrowers that are ready to own a home, expands the role for a private sector, and reduces overall taxpayer exposure. Thank you again for inviting me to testify today. I welcome any questions. The chair recognizes himself or five minutes for questions. Secretary carson, my colleague, the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. Duffy alluded in his Opening Statement. I am curious, di does hud have or are they able to escape poverty. Can they remove beyond section eight housing . Maybe at one point enjoy the dream of Home Ownership. Does hud have any way to measure this . Should there be a different measure of success for what youre doing . There has been a number of studies over the decade. As was mentioned in the Opening Statement, there hasnt been a tremendous amount of progress. That wasnt because they have bad intentions, i think they have very good intentions but we have to look at the fact that we are not making a good deal of progress with poverty. Thats why we are looking to reform this whole thing and really look more at the person then at the housing complex. Housing is a component of developing people. We have to recognize that we only have 330 Million People in this country. We have to compete in the future with china and india who have four times that many people. That means, if we dont develop all of our people, we are not going to be able to keep up in the future. Its as simple as that. We have to start thinking in terms of Holistic Development of people, Holistic Development of communities, how do we enable people to climb that ladder of opportunity, how do we incentivize them to climb the ladder of opportunity so they become part of the strength of this country . Part of Affordable Housing is obviously tied to our Housing Finance system. Recently Federal Reserve governor said if congress does not enact reform over the next few years, we are at risk of settling for the status quo. A government dominated Mortgage Market with insufficient private capital to protect taxpayers and