HUD chief Ben Carson to speak at fair-housing forum in Little Rock

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2017, file photo, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson speaks at Vaux Big Picture High School in Philadelphia.  (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2017, file photo, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson speaks at Vaux Big Picture High School in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Ben Carson, secretary of U.S. Housing and Urban Development, is scheduled to visit Little Rock next month to speak at a housing conference.

He's set to give the keynote address April 19 at the 2019 Fair Housing/Fair Lending Conference, which begins April 16. It will be at the Little Rock Marriott Hotel and the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, according to the event's online listing.

This will be Carson's second time in Arkansas' capital city. The first was in April 2018 when he visited Our House, a homeless shelter, and took tours of public housing towers.

The towers were in the beginning stages of switching to Section 8 housing under the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration, which began during former President Barack Obama's administration and has expanded under President Donald Trump.

The last time Carson was in town, protesters gathered outside the gate of Our House, speaking against his plan to increase rent and work requirements for HUD tenants.

Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, will speak at the conference April 18. The coalition is a Washington-based organization that advocates for federal support for homeless people and affordable-housing policy.

U.S. Rep. French Hill, Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott also are to speak at the event, according to a news release.

Conference topics will focus on civil rights, banking and equal access to housing, according to a news release from Carol Johnson, executive director of the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission.

The commission is a quasi-judicial regulatory agency that works with the federal government to enforce fair-housing and fair-lending laws.

The conference's theme is "Creating the Next Generation of Diverse Arkansas Communities."

The annual conference is a gathering of "local, state and national housing, lending and development professionals providing a broad range of fair housing/fair lending information to help ensure equitable statewide housing access," according to the website.

"We will celebrate our unity in promoting equal access to housing in Arkansas communities and honor those who have assisted in efforts to ensure housing protections in Arkansas," Johnson said in the release.

Attendance is free, but there is a $25 daily charge for professional-development credits.

Metro on 03/23/2019

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