Jared Kushner’s Low-Income Renters Aren’t His Biggest Fans

By Daniel J. Solomon May 23, 2017

With its gleaming headquarters on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and a bevy of luxury apartment complexes, Kushner Companies has a decidedly upscale feel.

But the real estate firm – once headed by President Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner – owns thousands of low-income units.

According to a report in The New York Times, these aren’t the happiest customers, with many on the receiving end of aggressive lawsuits.

Hundreds of tenants in the Baltimore area have been hounded for unpaid fees or rent, even when the truth seems to be on the tenants’ side.

Kushner Companies acquired many of the units more than a decade ago, when it was looking for a steady source of cash flow to finance its moves into the luxury market.

Kushner himself, now a White House senior adviser, has bragged about how much money he can pull out of low-income units.

“It’s proven over the last few years to be the most resilient asset class, and at the end of the day, it’s a very stable asset class,” he said.

“It was a lot of construction and a lot of evictions… But the communities now look great, and the outcome has been phenomenal.”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at solomon@forward.com or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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