President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner took advantage of a federal program aimed at helping low-income communities to build a gleaming, 50-story residential tower in a wealthy neighborhood in New Jersey. That’s according to The Washington Post, which reported that Kushner and his real estate partners drew up a map—similar to a gerrymandered congressional district—that falsely claimed the areas around the tower at 65 Bay Street in Jersey City are blighted. In fact, the map stretched miles into areas of south Jersey City, where poverty and unemployment are high, while avoiding affluent neighborhoods just blocks from the residential tower. The move gave Kushner’s company access to $50 million in low-cost financing under a program aimed at promoting investment in areas of high unemployment. Kushner and his partners are attempting to use a similar map to secure $150 million to build a pair of luxury towers in Jersey City’s Journal Square neighborhood.
