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President-elect Donald Trump tapped Ben Carson to be his secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and should the Senate approve the pick there may be a shift in the assistance offered to poverty-stricken Americans in favor of Carson's "tough love" ideologies.
Despite his childhood spent living in poverty and depending on public assistance for survival, Carson says welfare assistance merely fosters dependency, the New York Times reports. Experts are worried Carson won’t direct HUD to use its $47B budget to do more for the poor living in urban areas, where gentrifying downtowns are often just blocks away from violent, poverty-stricken areas.
While many conservatives say Carson doesn’t want to entirely cut public funding housing, it is likely some cuts are coming. [NYT]
