At the same time that the White House began cutting the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s budget by $8.8 billion on programs for the homeless, elderly, and poor, Ben Caron’s office was getting a $31,000 dining room set, according to a report from The New York Times. Carson, the secretary of HUD, had the redecorating done in late 2017, but the federal procurement records have just been made public.
The Washington Post dove deeper into Carson’s expenses. Carson’s wife reportedly insisted on redecorating the office, which included a $5,000 office chair. In a conversation between HUD’s chief administrative officer, Helen Foster and the Acting Secretary of HUD (her supervisor before Carson’s position became official), the acting secretary reportedly said that “$5000 will not even buy a decent chair.”
According to a Post investigation, a $5,000 office chair is one of the most expensive chairs that money can buy.
People on Twitter obviously had some thoughts about the hefty $165k he spent in total redecorating the office:
The man who oversees HUD – has no problem spending thousands while the poorest people in our country are not sure they will have a place to sleep. Shameful. We need to wake up the HUD recipients and get them to vote.
— Nancy Bostar (@NBostar) February 28, 2018
At the same time as The Trump admin tried cutting the HUD budget, HUD officials paid $31,000 in taxpayer dollars for a new dining room set for the office of Ben Carson.
I just bought a dining room set for $2600 and thought that was expensive…
Meanwhile people are homeless.
— Brian Krassenstein? (@krassenstein) February 28, 2018
New reports show that HUD is spending $165,000 on lounge furniture. Here’s what that money could buy at IKEA. 1/https://t.co/KrhxH9Kcgp
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) February 28, 2018
Let’s do some math.
If it costs $1.93 to provide one meal to a homeless person, for the cost of a table, 16,092 people would have a decent meal. #FillTheSwamp
Ben Carson’s HUD, Planning Cuts, Spends $31,000 on Dining Set for His Office https://t.co/4yRgiwSeod
— Jamie Carter ❄ #BoycottNRA (@JCTheResistance) February 28, 2018
How the Trump Administration is spending OUR money:
HHS Sec. Scott Price spent over $300k flying private.
HUD Sec. Ben Carson got himself a $31k office table.
Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke spent $6k for Caribbean vacation.
Trump’s weekly trips to Mar-a-Lago cost $100M per year.
— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) February 28, 2018
“hey welcome to HUD i am just sitting down for lunch come join me so we can talk about my plans for slashing funds for the elderly and poor” pic.twitter.com/Zf0hqDeN1k
— darth™ (@darth) February 28, 2018
According to New York Magazine, Foster filed a lawsuit against Carson’s wife after she instructed the staff in charge of redecorating to find extra money for the high quality furniture she wanted to put in Carson’s office. Foster was demoted after she raised concerns, the Los Angeles Times reported. Her lawyer stated that Foster “has suffered much humiliation and loss of reputation, and harm to career advancement, as a result of this retaliatory assignment.”
CNN reported on issues with Carson family involved in HUD last week.
A spokesperson for HUD’s Inspector general said that there is “an open matter” concerning an investigation into the family’s involvement in the department. “However, it is our policy not to comment any further during its pendency,” the spokesperson said.