Ben Carson: Solve homelessness by getting people to work

Ben Carson has spent time in Western Washington and knows we’re dealing with a homelessness crisis.

“I am very familiar with your area, and I have great empathy there,” Carson told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “I spent 17 years on the Costco board so I’ve been there a lot.”

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“You look at the country overall, the homelessness problem is actually decreasing, but bicoastally, in areas like yours, San Francisco, Los Angeles, it’s much worse,” Carson he said. “The reason, of course, is that prices for renting and for purchasing are escalating at a much faster rate than income. Many people who aren’t homeless find themselves only one or two paychecks away from becoming homeless.”

Carson is currently a member of the Trump administration, serving as the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. When talking with Dori about the homelessness crisis, he said that getting people to work is a primary solution. With a 4.1 percent unemployment rate, he points out, it is the lowest it’s been in years.

“It’s is OK for us now to require people to work,” he said. “Give them the opportunity, give them training, and let them see what it feels like to be self-reliant and self-sustaining. Those are the things that will help turn the tide. We can’t just sit back and complain about it … we are here, we can’t wish it away.”

Carson: Government dependency and opioids

Carson points out two related issues that are contributing to the work/homelessness crisis in places like Western Washington: government dependency and opioids.

Government dependency

It is time for a new approach to moving people off of government dependency, Carson argues. He said that people need to understand that there have been generations of Americans who know no other way to live than to depend on government agencies.

“It’s the only thing they’ve known, it’s what their mother knew, it’s what their grandmother knew,” Carson said. “Unfortunately, we are tasked with getting them out of that mindset. We have to take advantage of things like Section 3; it’s been on the books for 49 years. It says that if you are getting HUD money, you have an obligation to train or hire low-income people in that area.”

Opioids

There are a lot of causes of the homelessness crisis, but opioids are among the most common. Carson says the country needs to make it as easy to get treatment for addiction as it is to get drugs. The result of not doing anything will have effects on the economy; it’s more expensive to have someone on the streets than it is to house them, Carson said.

“The people who are able to work, and who can be rehabilitated, we need to start focusing on that sooner rather than later,” he said. “This is a massive problem. I don’t think most people have any concept how bad it is. You talk to the CEOs of manufacturing companies; they will tell you they have trouble getting enough negative screens, drug screens, to hire people to do the work.”

Listen to Dori’s entire conversation with Ben Carson here.