Housing

Our experience in banking, securities, zoning, green building, litigation, environmental compliance, fair housing and Section 504 compliance, construction contracting, and bankruptcy complements our housing practice.

We have been engaged as bond counsel in billions of dollars in single family and multifamily housing revenue bonds. Our energy team is at the forefront of green construction and retrofitting, and several of our lawyers hold the LEED AP designation.

Our lawyers draw on their experience in finance and real estate to provide pragmatic, leading-edge advice on even the most complex transactions, including:

• Acquisitions/assumptions
• Bonds
• Construction and bridge loans
• Capital grant financing programs
• Community development lending
• Defaults and workouts
• Green building/energy efficiency initiatives
• Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac
• FHA-insured loans/Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) transactions
• HUD programs
• Mixed-finance transactions
• Portfolio sales and acquisitions
• Section 8 contracts and vouchers
• Public housing conversion with RAD and other tools
• Tax credits

We represent clients in every space in the market, including:

• Housing Authorities
• Nonprofit and for-profit developers
• Section 8 housing owners
• State and local housing finance agencies
• Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) investors
• New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) community development entities and borrowers
• Commercial lenders
• Bond issuers and underwriters
• Mortgage and investment bankers

We work with housing authorities and their private-sector development partners nationwide, advising on the demolition, disposition, development, and redevelopment of public housing projects.

Our work includes implementing mixed-finance projects, assisting with RAD conversions, obtaining HUD regulatory waivers, structuring and closing transactions involving capital fund bonds, and private financings using various tax credits. We have closed transactions and guided implementation of numerous affordable housing projects nationwide, including mixed-income and mixed-use developments. Our attorneys assist clients in planning and executing innovative transactions, including many of the earliest, largest, and most successful green energy improvements in public housing redevelopment, as well as projects including continuing care facilities, school construction, and transit-oriented development.

We also assist housing authorities with programs such as Moving to Work, Section 8 contracts, asset management, and the Section 30 Public Housing Mortgage Program, as well as Fair Housing Act and Section 504 issues and HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigations. Our lawyers have developed productive working relationships with HUD officials and have a solid understanding of their programs and procedures.

Our housing finance lawyers counsel leading national real estate finance and investment companies and other lenders, as well borrowers and other clients nationwide, on all aspects of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac financing products for multifamily housing projects and seniors facilities, as well as on related compliance and servicing issues.

These attorneys handle all types of conventional mortgage and bond financings, including acquisition, rehabilitation, refunding, and forward commitment new construction loans. We also assist clients with loan assumptions, distressed asset advice, and default resolution. We serve as counsel to Freddie Mac for its tax-exempt bond credit enhancement and securitization programs.

Our work has included acquisition, rehabilitation, and new construction loans; tax-exempt bond financings credit enhanced by HUD insurance; GNMA mortgage-backed securities; IRP decoupling transactions; and transfer of physical assets applications. We are experienced in virtually all of HUD's multifamily programs and related tax, securities, environmental, and legal issues associated with HUD transactions.

We also assist lenders in obtaining HUD mortgagee and MAP approvals to originate HUD-insured loans. We help lenders respond to audit reports, pre-penalty determinations, and other adverse findings, and advise on servicing issues. We negotiate loan and servicing portfolio sales and perform due diligence reviews. Our lawyers enjoy effective working relationships with HUD headquarters and local office employees.

In addition, our lawyers defend multifamily owners, housing authorities, HUD contractors, lenders, and others against HUD actions seeking civil monetary penalties, debarment, suspension, and limited denials of participation for alleged violations of HUD program requirements. We assist clients during HUD OIG investigations, reviews, and audits, as well as draft responses to audit findings and assist with resolving them. We also represent clients in HUD and DOJ investigations into possible violations of law during administration of HUD programs, including False Claims Act cases. Our lawyers have experience representing clients on these issues both in administrative proceedings and in court.

Our experience includes transactions that combine LIHTCs with state LIHTC, historic tax credits, New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC), solar tax credits, and many sources of debt financing. Our attorneys advise on all aspects of these transactions, including tax, real estate, and business issues.

We also advise clients with Year 15 issues and re-syndications as developments near the end of the LIHTC compliance period. We assist our clients in analyzing the deal’s economics and in navigating the evolving dynamics of the equity and debt marketplace.

We focus our practice on advising community development entities (CDEs), borrowers, and leverage lenders (including municipalities and for-profit and nonprofit organizations) in a wide variety of projects eligible for NMTC financing, such as schools, health centers, and crisis abuse centers.

In addition, we represent investors, fund managers, and developers on the evolving tax, organizational, and business structuring requirements of the QOZ program. We assist clients in forming Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOFs) and investing by QOFs in QOZ businesses and property, including investments in multifamily and commercial projects.

We have served as bond counsel or underwriter’s counsel for state housing agencies nationwide, as well as for numerous local housing finance agencies and authorities. Our bond financing practice consistently ranks among the national leaders in volume handled, as reported by Thomson Reuters. Our experience includes numerous transactions that combine New Markets Tax Credits with tax-exempt bonds.