Ben Carson, Housing and Urban Development Secretary, said he believes "poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind" during an appearance on Armstrong Williams' SiriusXM radio show Wednesday, May 24.

Carson's answer came after he was broadly asked by Armstrong to define poverty.

"I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind," the HUD secretary said on the radio show. "You take somebody that has the right mindset ... you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they'll be right back up there.

"You take someone with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world, and they'll work their way back down to the bottom."

Carson, a Detroit native, is tasked with leading the department that handles housing for million of Americans with a low-income. The retired neurosurgeon was tabbed by former rival President Donald Trump to lead HUD in December of 2016.

Carson and often spoke about his humble upbringing in Detroit surrounded by rats, roaches and drug dealers while on the presidential campaign trail.

"My mother was out working and struggling hard ... trying to stay off of welfare. Most of the people she saw go on welfare never came off it," Carson said. "She wanted to be independent. She decided she would work as long and hard as necessary."

In the interview published Wednesday evening, Carson also touches on having a "defeatist" attitude and how the government can come in and help straighten that out.

"There's also poverty of spirit," he says. "You develop a certain mindset. I can tell you, if you take someone who has the right mindset, the 'can-do attitude,' you can take every penny from them, every possession from them, put them on the street and I guarantee you in a year they're right back out there.

"If you take someone who has a defeatist attitude and a what can you do for me attitude, you can do everything and they'll be right back down there."