The Ben Carson Years at HUD: Did He Make a Difference? The Ben Carson Years at HUD: Did He Make a Difference? What will Ben Carson's legacy at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development be? Will history look upon Carson's HUD tenure kindly? Clare Trapasso, provided by FacebookTwitterEmail When Dr. Ben Carson took the helm of the nation's top housing agency, the country was in the early throes of an affordable housing crisis. Four years, one pandemic, and a recession later, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's tenure is about to come to an end.