- And with us now is

Secretary of Housing andUrban Development, Ben Carson.

Secretary Carson, thank youso much for being with us.

You know, HUD just allocatedmore than 75 million dollars

to help people withdisabilities pay for housing.

Who do you see as mostat-risk of losing housing

at this point in the pandemic,

and what steps can help prevent that?

- Well, you know, thereare a lot of people

who were right on the cusp,

even before the pandemic started.

A lot of people who live insort of the depressed areas.

A lot of people who livein Opportunity Zones.

There are about 35 million Americans

who live in Opportunity Zones.

And that was really thewhole purpose of the program,

is to encourage investment,

people can use theirunrealized capital gains

and put them into places

that they normallywouldn't even think about.

And these places wouldn'tremain depressed.

And it has had an enormous impact.

But still, there are a lotof elderly, disabled people

and people who really don'tfit well into the workforce

because, you know, theyhaven't been re-tooled

to work in the 21st century.

I just would emphasizethat this COVID-19 crisis

came on the back of a very strong economy.

The virus is waning very quickly,

and that foundation is still there.

And people will do well again.

And they need to realize that

and recognize that this is not the end,

this is the beginning of the renaissance.

- Well, you know, you hadmentioned the 35 million people

in Opportunity Zones.

We know that there areabout 36 million people

who are now out of workdue to the pandemic.

They still have to pay bills,though, mortgages and rent,

all while trying to put food on the table.

What's your message to them?

- My message is, first ofall, if you have a mortgage,

you're having trouble with it,

please contact your loan officer,

because we have put in place forbearance,

which means that theywill provide a mechanism

to alleviate your financial pain

and to put those payments off.

In some cases, you canput them off until the end

of your primary mortgage.

So that may be many, many yearsbefore you have to do that

and it's done in an interest-free manner.

And there are a whole varietyof variations on that.

Same thing, if you're renting.

Forbearance because we have a moratorium

on evictions and on foreclosures.

So those things are in place.

In addition to that, we'vecontacted the various PHAs,

public housing authority andothers who deal with people

who are on the edge and moneyhas been provided for them

so that they don't have toinflict pain upon the people

who are paying to them.

- The House passed anotherrelief bill last week,

but Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell questions

the need for more aid right now.

From your perspective inHousing and Urban Development,

is more aid needed?

- Well, a lot of the moneyhas not been dispersed.

Somewhere between 40% and 60% of the money

has not been dispersed yet.

So, I think what SenatorMcConnell is saying is

let's see what the impact isof what we've done already,

and let's make sure that we're not

throwing good money after bad money.

Let's look at what's working,and let's magnify that.

- Dr. Carson, you're a man of deep faith,

something the Presidentpointed out yesterday

during the Cabinet meeting.

Can you talk about how you've seen

faith-based communitiesrespond during this time

of need in America?

- Well, I'm actually very proud

of the faith-based organizations

and the role that they'vetaken upon themselves

to provide for people.

I know there is onefaith-based group in Missouri

that every Saturday night wouldhave people who are in need

come to their facility andthey would hand out meals

and clothing and what have you.

And because of therestrictions that were imposed

based on the COVID-19 crisis,

they weren't able to do that anymore.

So their members startedtaking the stuff out to people.

And you know, thoseare the kinds of things

that we're seeing.

People feeding others,finding ways to get food

from farms where the foodwas just going to waste

to people who actually need it.

And you know, when you reallystop and think about it,

what are Christians supposed to do?

In the book of James, firstchapter, 27 verse it say,

"Pure religion, and undefiledbefore God the Father is this,

"to visit the fatherless and the widow."

And what it's saying isthere are people among you

who are suffering.

And it's your job to take pity upon them

and to do something for them.

We were very quick, as soonas this became apparent

that it was gonna be problem,

to contact all the communityaffairs in the United States--

there's about 7,000 of them--

who are devoted to the homeless,

and to put them in contact

with their local healthcare facilities

and to formulate plans for what to do

if somebody, in fact,contracted the virus.

I think this is probablyone of the reasons

that we didn't see what waspredicted amongst the homeless

because we were able tomove out there quickly,

gain cooperation, disseminate information.

And that's the way things should be done.

We have good cooperation fromstate and local officials.

- All right, Secretary Carson,

thank you so much for your time.

- Always a pleasure.