As such, Carson, who at age 65 has no political or bureaucratic experience, will take over an agency tasked with helping to set and enact urban policy, including overseeing low-income housing projects and vouchers, and helping to stabilize neighborhoods across the nation, including Detroit.



Carson entered politics for the first time last year, running as a Republican candidate for president after the retired neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore made headlines for criticizing Democratic President Barack Obama -- who sat a few feet away -- at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington in 2013. Although he polled strongly for a time, as the election season began in earnest this year it became clear Carson had no path to the presidency and he withdrew from the race in March.

While many other Republican opponents dismissed Trump, Carson generally maintained civility with the eventual nominee throughout the campaign season and was seen as an ally and eventual surrogate as it became clear that Trump would win the nomination. Carson’s appointment as HUD secretary had been rumored for some weeks

“I am thrilled to nominate Dr. Ben Carson as our next secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,” Trump said in a statement. “Ben Carson has a brilliant mind and is passionate about strengthening communities and families within those communities.”

“We have talked at length about my urban renewal agenda and our message of economic revival, very much including our inner cities,” Trump went on. “Ben shares my optimism about the future of our country as is part of ensuring that this is a presidency representing all Americans. He is a tough competitor and never gives up.”



Carson – who reportedly had earlier declined a role in the Trump administration, including secretary of Health and Human Services, due to his lack of government experience – said he was honored to accept the nomination, which will be considered for confirmation by the U.S. Senate early next year.

“I feel that I can make a significant contribution particularly by strengthening communities that are most in need,” said Carson, who returned to Detroit last May to announce his presidential candidacy. “We have much work to do in enhancing every aspect of our nation and ensuring that our nation’s housing needs are met.”

What Trump’s plans are regarding housing policy might be are largely unknown – the topic rarely, if ever, came up during the presidential campaign in which he stunned the word by beating Democrat Hillary Clinton. But Trump has made promises to inner cities and Detroit that he would revitalize them by creating tax incentives for businesses to locate there and create federal disaster declarations for blighted urban centers to allow for increased police protection, investment in infrastructure and demolition of abandoned properties.

That could cost billions, however, and, if anything, the sometimes controversial and almost always low-key Carson came across throughout the campaign as a fiscal conservative, arguing for a less, not more, active federal government.

Carson’s nomination, meanwhile, keeps in the public eye a figure who was the butt of jokes of late-night comics. He has also made many controversial statements, talking of taxation in terms of religion and socialism; comparing women who have abortions to slave-owners and invoking the history of the Nazis in Germany with talk of restrictions on gun ownership in the U.S.

Carson -- who life story was dramatized in the TV movie, "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story," in which he was portrayed by actor Cuba Gooding Jr. -- has often spoken about his difficult upbringing after his father left his family when Carson was 8 years old. He credits his mother with forcing him and Carson`s brother Curtis to turn off the television and read a set number of books each week from the library and report back to her on their contents. Carson said it helped him overcome what he has described as a bad temper and poor attitude toward education.

Carson graduated with honors from Southwestern High School, where he also became a senior commander in the school`s ROTC program. He earned a full scholarship to Yale University and graduated in 1973 with a B.A. in psychology before enrolling in the School of Medicine at the University of Michigan.

At age 33, Carson became the youngest doctor to head a major division at Johns Hopkins Hospital, taking over the department of pediatric neurosurgery. In 1987, Carson became the first surgeon to separate conjoined twins joined at the back of the head. He and his wife Candy have also started the Carson Scholars Fund, which has provided more than 7,300 scholarships since 1994 to students across the country.

In 2006, Carson received the Spingarn Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the NAACP. In February 2008, President George W. Bush awarded Dr. Carson the Ford`s Theatre Lincoln Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In taking over HUD, Carson inherits an agency with some 7,600 employees and a budget of more than $30 billion. Each year, it provides billions in aid to communities across the nation through various housing programs: In 2016, Michigan municipalities received $111 million in so-called Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding, which is used to pay for infrastructure and housing development among other uses. Detroit -- the state`s largest recipient of CDBG funds -- received $31.4 million in 2016 and nearly $350 million over the last 10 years.

Carson will not be the first Michigander to hold the job: Former Michigan Gov. George Romney held the job under President Richard Nixon -- another case in which a former rival was tapped for the job. Carson joins Betsy DeVos of Grand Rapids -- tapped for secretary of the Department of Education -- as the other Michigander on Trump`s Cabinet, though Carson has lived outside of Michigan -- mainly in Maryland and Florida -- for decades.

Carson is the first African American to be nominated to a Cabinet position by Trump.

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