Much of the wealth that ultra-rich celebrity deal-maker and 2016 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump inherited from his father, Fred Trump {II}, was apparently obtained during the late 1930's and 1940's from a Trump housing construction firm that was financed by the public funds of the U.S. government's Federal Housing Administration [FHA]. As former Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett's 1992 book, Trump: The Deals and The Downfall, recalled:
"The financing of Trump's Depression-era housing came from the...Federal Housing Administration [FHA]...By the beginning of 1941...Fred Trump...was beginning to move his base of operations out toward the eastern shore of Brooklyn, buying up valuable tracts in Brighton Beach and Bensonhurst. He announced the development of 200 homes a block from the beach in Brighton and the purchase of a pivotal 50-acre track near Bensonhurst Park right off the Belt Parkway, where he planned another 700 houses...
"The war...brought a shutdown of FHA funding for housing in Brooklyn, forcing Trump to suspend his...Bensonhurst project and sending him off to Norfolk, Virginia, and Chester, Pennsylvania, to build FHA-backed housing hear shipyards for naval officers and related uses...He moved his base of operations to Virginia...In addition to the project Fred built...he became an investor in other Norfolk ventures and bought some outright over the years. He would remain active in the Norfolk area into the seventies, accumulating an estimated 2,400 units at his peak, traveling back and forth from New York on a regular basis...Though Fred prospered in Virginia, he shifted his focus back to Brooklyn by late 1944...
"...Between late 1944 and January of 1945, he bought 3 vast plots of land, putting together a 40-acre site. He got one parcel directly from the City. The other two were in tax arrears, and he snatched them before the City could take them, getting them cheaply and assuming the tax bill. His political connections helped keep him one step ahead of the tax man...
"...Trump's plan called for 1,344 apartments...right off the Belt Parkway and overlooking the bay...The FHA commitment to the plan of $9.1 million was divided into 3 equal parts to avoid the $5 million legal limite on project financing...
"Shore Haven was a dramatic change for the 2-story neighborhood, requiring all sorts of City zoning, sewer and street support...By the time Shore Haven was completed Trump's FHA mortgage was increased to $10.4 million, and his own claimed construction cost was raised to $9.5 million...In addition to his fee as a builder, Fred [Trump] managed to take a $1.6 million profit out of the mortgage proceeds..."
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