A growing list of urban planners, designers, architects, and scholars are putting their weight behind a petition intended to prevent Dr. Ben Carson from becoming the next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). He has no prior experience with housing and holds widely-unpopular positions on public housing and other issues. For instance, Carson has described the Fair Housing Act as “socialist”, suggesting he would not enforce it.

Here's how the letter, which is still being edited and written collaboratively, begins:

We, the undersigned, are strongly opposed to the appointment of Dr. Ben Carson as the next Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Apart from his personal views on a variety of political and social issues, we consider Dr. Carson completely unqualified to anticipate or promote appropriate solutions to the pressing housing and urban needs facing our country.

Created in 1965 to further the nation’s housing and urban revitalization agenda, HUD’s role has been to implement the nation’s housing goal, first articulated by Congress in 1949: “a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family.” Sadly, this goal has not yet been realized. It remains, nevertheless, an aspiration that HUD is obligated to manifest, and one that will be greatly undermined should the U.S. Senate confirm Dr. Ben Carson.

The signatories below include scholars and experts working in the fields over which HUD holds direct administrative responsibilities, including federally subsidized housing programs to assist lower income households, develop housing policy, implement urban revitalization strategies, eliminate homelessness, and administer programs to support homeownership and fair housing.

Check out the letter in full here, and add your name if you're so inclined.

Related:

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• HUD-winked: Ben Carson takes on housing for Trump and ZHA distances itself from Patrik Schumacher on Archinect Sessions #90, ft. special guest Marc Miller
• What Ben Carson's federal inexperience means for HUD