As she and Mr. Carson chatted, he signed her copy of his biography, “Gifted Hands,” writing, “Keep up the good work.”
“The best thing to do is to do what Ben Carson is doing
and that’s walking through to see if programs are really benefiting people and if people are really serious,” said Ms. Ramirez, who uses a Section 8 voucher to pay for an apartment she shares with her 2-year-old and 6-year-old daughters.
“And I think it may have been someone on his staff who kind of said, ‘Well, maybe we just need to get rid of the whole
program.’ No, we don’t need to get rid of the whole program because there are some extremely good things there.”
Mr. Carson said he planned to focus much of his energy on persuading developers to hire local low-income residents for construction programs.
“I was kind of told, ‘Be quiet, Bela.’ But I think people need to have that blunt conversation.”
During the visit, Mr. Carson had asked whether people had to be sober and drug free to get housing.
But, he added, “There is another group of people who are able-bodied individuals,
and I think we do those people a great disservice when we simply maintain them.”
Antoine Williams, 45, who lives in a supportive housing complex for the chronically homeless, shook his head after
Mr. Carson finished greeting officials in the lobby of his building and headed out in a four-car motorcade.