The president of the United States calls Jared Kushner his son-in-law and trusted adviser. The FBI calls Kushner a subject of interest in its probe of possible White House connections to Russia.
But some Baltimore-area residents have another name for him: slumlord.
In a lengthy and detailed story in the Sunday New York Times Magazine headlined, “Jared Kushner’s Other Real Estate Empire,” a subhead summarizes, “Baltimore-area renters complain about a property owner they say is neglectful and litigious. Few know their landlord is the president’s son-in-law.”
Well, they know it now.
The Times piece describes low-rent apartments in eastern Baltimore County – thousands of units in 15 different complexes, many of which a Kushner-led investment group bought several years ago with $371 million in financing from Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage lender.
These apartments are decades-old working-class and low-rent homes to “casino workers, distribution-warehouse pickers, Uber drivers, students at for-profit colleges,” the Times reports.
The newspaper’s story describes “poor upkeep” at many of the complexes, “mouse infestation” at some, and “black mold” and gaps in ceilings that allow in rain and snow.
In one case, the paper reports, “A bedroom ceiling started leaking one day. Then maggots started coming out of the living room carpet. Then raw sewage started flowing out of the kitchen sink.”
But this is only the beginning of the problem. In hundreds of collections cases, when residents balk at paying until improvements are made, they are routinely taken to court, where the landlord company – with limitless money to pay attorneys — battles for every dollar and working class tenants find themselves utterly overwhelmed and incapable of fighting back.
“There is a clear pattern of Kushner Companies’ pursuing tenants over virtually any unpaid rent or broken lease – even in the numerous cases where the facts appear to be on the tenants’ side,” the Times reports. “Not only does the company file cases against them, it pursues the cases for as long as it takes to collect from the overmatched defendants – often several years. … The pursuit is all the more remarkable given how transient the company’s prey tends to be.
“Hounding former tenants for money means paying to send out process servers who often report back that they were unable to locate the target. This does not deter Kushner Companies’ lawyers. They send the servers back out again a few months later.”
Kushner, now a key adviser to President Donald Trump and a figure of mounting pressure in multiple Russian-connection investigations, stepped down as chief executive of Kushner Companies in January but remains a stakeholder, with trusts the Times estimates to be worth at least $600 million.
A former Baltimore Sun columnist and WJZ-TV commentator, Michael Olesker is the author of six books, most recently “Front Stoops in the Fifties: Baltimore Legends Come of Age” (Johns Hopkins University Press).
Also see: Meet the Jews in the Trump Administration
Michael Olesker pays tribute to WJZ’s retiring Marty Bass, a longtime fixture on local TV screens.
The Orioles' weak defense plays a major role in the nightly carnage, writes Michael Olesker.
Last weekend's Flower Mart once again demonstrated that there's nothing to fear about downtown Baltimore, writes Michael Olesker.
Cruel, inappropriate, egomanical, outrageous and bullying are all attributes that pass for presidential these days, writes Michael Olesker.