U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson told participants at an annual fair housing conference in Little Rock Friday that "no one should have to endure any type of harassment just to keep a roof over their head."
Carson said his agency is focusing during Fair Housing Month on getting more recipients of housing assistance to report instances of sexual harassment.
About 20 protestors gathered outside the Marriott Hotel downtown where Carson was speaking, to speak against a proposed 18 percent cut to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's 2020 budget.
“Don’t cut housing for the poor, stop Ben Carson at the door,” they chanted.
Carson was Friday’s keynote speaker at the annual Fair Housing/Fair Lending Conference put on by the Arkansas Fair Housing Commission, a state-appointed agency that works with HUD to enforce fair housing laws.
The Fair Housing Act is a 1968 federal law that prohibits discrimination in housing and obtaining home loans.
Carson also briefly discussed HUD’s lawsuit, filed last month, against Facebook for allegedly only showing certain users housing ads based on data mining.
Congressman French Hill also spoke at the conference luncheon in support of Opportunity Zones, which offer tax incentives to encourage investment in lower-income areas.