Ben Carson endorsed public-private housing partnerships and held up Habitat for Humanity as an example. | AP Photo HUD's Carson lauds Florida project that Trump plans to defund

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson praised Habitat for Humanity just a week after President Donald Trump said he wanted to abolish funding that supports the group.

At the invitation of Republican donors, Carson Friday toured a Habitat site in Pompano Beach, Fla., that by this time next year will need HUD money to deliver its 77 affordable homes to lower- and middle-income buyers.


“I identify so strongly with the mission of Habitat for Humanity, which is seeking to put God’s love into action,” Carson said during remarks to the group. “It dovetails so well with my concept of what the Department of Housing and Urban Development should be doing, and that is not just putting a roof over people’s heads but building communities and developing human capital.”

Carson endorsed public-private housing partnerships and held up Habitat as an example.

“This project here is one of the things that work,” he said. “The government can’t do everything, but the government can get things started.”

Carson’s visit was arranged by Rick and Rita Case, Republican donors who helped finance the Habitat project. Rita Case gave $2,700 to Trump’s campaign and $12,300 to the Republican National Committee last year, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

The Cases could not immediately be reached for comment.

Habitat, a global nonprofit, builds and rehabilitates homes, which it then sells. It requires buyers to invest sweat equity in the property by helping with construction. Prices and monthly mortgage payments are set according to each buyer’s income.

The group’s projects typically get funding through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant program, the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the Self-help Homeownership Opportunity Program, or SHOP, and a program known as Section 4.

All were eliminated in Trump’s budget outline.

“There’s going to be some rearranging of the way the budget is done,” Carson told POLITICO the night before the speech.

“I don’t think anybody is going to be displaced,” he said. “We’re going to find excellent and efficient ways to get things done. And to get people out of poverty.”

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The Pompano Beach development will begin delivering homes by this time next year, when it will need help from the SHOP program for first-time buyers, said Nancy Robin, chief executive officer of Habitat in Broward County.

The gap between wages and home prices in Broward is among the worst in the country and affordable homes are in such short supply that the county is giving away land to build low-cost housing.

“Broward County is in crisis,” Robin said. “We have a great divide. We have very, very wealthy people in this community but it really is a service-based economy.”

Habitat estimates that its independent local affiliates receive more than $200 million a year in HOME, SHOP and CDBG. It also has leveraged $92 million in Section 4 grants into $162 million in private investment.

Carson asked questions about Habitat but didn’t talk about funding, said Jonathan Reckford, chief executive officer for Habitat for Humanity International.

“He clearly talked about the need to leverage the public dollars with private dollars,” Reckford said. “He certainly didn’t give any policy prescriptions. He said he’s looking for successful examples.”

Friday’s visit was the second stop on the secretary’s listening tour, which he launched last week In Detroit.

What's next: Carson continues his listening tour in Dallas next week.

Darren Samuelsohn contributed to this report.