Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson is often visible in the news for silly things like buying expensive furniture or being poked fun at by Saturday Night Live, but as fun as it is to roll our eyes at this particularly confusing cabinet member, we can’t forget to criticize his policy as well. Carson’s plan of action has thus far been a diligent deconstruction of all Obama-era HUD policies, and the latest of these was his decision last week to scale back the enforcement of fair housing laws. This decision, taken with Carson’s overall actions since his appointment, shows how backward and dysfunctional this small but essential federal department has become. The health of HUD should matter to everyone who cares about income inequality and equal opportunity, and these goals should also matter much more to Ben Carson.

Under President Obama, a concentrated effort was placed on investigating and enforcing violations of fair housing policy. This was an attempt to combat racial and income discrimination in government-subsidized housing programs. Carson will now end these efforts. In November, a hold was placed on several fair housing investigations that had been in progress with topics such as disabled access to residences and a location for a group home for former criminal offenders. The reasoning for this has been described by the department’s spokesman as a “recalibration” for the agency.

Also wrapped up in this issue of fair housing, surprisingly or not, is Facebook. HUD started investigating Facebook in late 2016 after accusations that the social media company was allowing advertisers to prevent certain demographic minority groups from seeing ads for housing. At a time when Facebook is making headlines for abuse of data and information, one would think that Carson would see profiling in housing advertising as problematic. But Carson cancelled meetings with Facebook executives and has not followed up on the investigation. This is a clear lack of concern for discrimination happening right under his nose.

Carson’s other major actions since his appointment are equally nonsensical and destructive. Last year, he placed a hold on the “small-area fair market rents” (SAFMR) rule, a (you guessed it) Obama policy intended to help people using housing vouchers to move to more affluent neighborhoods. Earlier this month, Carson removed the words “inclusive,” “free from discrimination” and “quality” from the department’s mission statement.

There is an appalling absence of sensitivity to the issues of housing segregation, overall discrimination and income mobility from within Carson’s department. When touring a number of low-income housing units and homeless shelters last year, he made clear that such facilities shouldn’t be too “comfortable.” Anyone who worries that people will choose to stay poor or homeless because there is a TV in the shelter does not understand the needs of those with housing insecurity.

HUD is a mess—only four of the department’s top 13 positions have been filled, its funding is set to be deeply cut and Eric Trump’s literal wedding planner is in charge of the New York regional office. HUD may not be a large department, but it has a major impact on those seeking fairness in housing and opportunity in urban and non-urban areas across the U.S. It is embarrassing that the federal agency in charge of meeting the needs of these people can be handled with such ridiculousness. It is worth repeating over and over: housing and urban development are extremely important for overall equity and opportunity in the U.S., and HUD needs to be responsible for these goals.