claim: Ben Carson told a hurricane victim that "homelessness is a gift from heaven" and a sign that God wanted them to be homeless.
origin: An image circulating online in September 2017 depicted federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson as having a less than charitable viewpoint toward hurricane victims. < You see, a hurricane is Godâ€™s way of saying you are meant to be homeless. So in a sense, your homelessness is a gift from heaven. > The photograph was likely from a 7 May 2015 meeting between Carson and community leaders in Baltimore. But there is no record of Carson making that statement about hurricane victims. In a September 2017Â interview, Carson said that families who receive federal housing assistance would get help in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, which caused significant damage in parts of Texas: < We will make sure that theyâ€™re all taken care of. In many cases where things have been destroyed, weâ€™ll have to go to some transitional housing first. But yes, weâ€™ll be taking care of all of them. > Carson has also promised that HUD would be â€œa rapid, responsible and compassionate agencyâ€ in its response. A HUD spokesperson told us that around 500,000 homeowners affected by Harvey and Hurricane Irma in Florida currently have mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Those homeowners are eligible for a 90-day â€œforeclosure moratorium.â€ The caption used in the image of Carson could be a play on a remark he actually did make during a May 2017 interview: < I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind. 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 theyâ€™ll be right back up there. And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world, theyâ€™ll work their way right back down to the bottom. > When asked in September 2015 how he would deal with Hurricane Joaquin, Carson â€” then a Republican presidential candidate â€” told reporters, â€œI donâ€™t know.â€