WASHINGTON, DC–Ben Carson was confirmed as Secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday. An erstwhile Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon, Carson's credentials for the role have been questioned but in truth his relevant experience — or lack thereof — shouldn't matter too much, says Richard Green, a former senior advisor with HUD and now the director and chair of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.

“Carson is smart and can learn quickly what he needs to know,” Green tells GlobeSt.com. “It is not an insult by any stretch to say that Carson doesn't understand how mortgage premiums work — so long as he has advisors that do,” he says.

Much of the expertise he will need is already in place in the form of civil servants who support HUD's mission from administration to administration.

But Carson is taking the helm of HUD with close to a dozen senior staff positions that require Senior confirmation unfilled. These positions — such as the deputy secretary and numerous assistant secretaries, including one that serves as FHA commissioner — are also key to the agency's operations. Until they are filled, it will fall to Carson to handle the duties.

Now, this is not to say that Secretary Carson will be working 24-7 to handle the day to day tasks of 13 positions. Civil servants will process the workload and on any given day it will not be apparent at all that a top position is empty.

Unless that day happens to be one where an executive decision about an unusual event needs to be made.

Then it will be clear no one is home.

“Things go wrong,” Green says. “That is just life.”

Three Problem Areas

There are three areas in which he anticipates Carson will have to step in to manage a problem that will inevitably arise.

Ginnie Mae. When an issuer gets into trouble, someone has to make the decision to seize the assets, Green said. “We may very well go awhile without an issuer getting into trouble, but it will eventually happen. And that is something a career civil servant cannot decide to do on his or her own.”

FHA's antiquated tech. The FHA is supported by the most antiquated of computer programming, Green says — COBOL. It hasn't been taught in schools for many years, it isn't scalable and it is mainframe based (which is another archaic piece of technology). Shorthand: it is crash-prone and desperately in need of replacement. “If the FHA is interrupted because of its technology issues, it will need a commissioner to explain what is happening” and possibly make the pitch for investment in a new system, Green says. “You need a political person in place for that.”

Local housing authority supervision. Part of HUD's role is to make sure these local agencies are doing their job properly, Green says. If they aren't “you need leadership in place to respond.”

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HUD Secretary Ben Carson Comes On Board With Little Senior Staff

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