Affordable Housing, Community Development +

We have represented non-profit developers, for-profit developers and investors in connection with their acquisition, rehabilitation, construction, development and financing of apartment communities and mixed-use projects throughout the United States. We understand that deals now require significant layering of complex debt structures, equity and regulatory requirements. Our clients have used tax-exempt bonds, taxable bonds, state and local loans, subordinate loans, and long-term financings. We advise developers on the wide range of issues that arise during the course of structuring multifamily transactions, such as joint ventures and other forms of entity structuring, leveraging low income housing tax credit, historic tax credit, and new markets tax credit equity, public disclosure requirements, real estate issues and regulatory issues, as well as state-specific concerns such as land use and planning law, subdivision matters, community redevelopment law and California Constitution Article XXXIV matters. Our team has extensive experience negotiating loan, bond and tax credit documents with bond issuers, bond counsel, the credit enhancer and the tax credit investor. We are also actively involved in dealings with the committee members and staff of the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee and the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee.

An important aspect of our public finance practice is the depth of our tax law experience. We maintain contact with Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department officials in order to stay up to date on tax issues facing the public finance industry. We are experienced in all federal and state tax aspects of affordable housing development with a special emphasis on taxation of partnerships and partners, nonprofit organizations, low income housing tax credits, historic tax credits, new markets tax credits, and transfer taxation of real estate. We understand the critical tax nature of the 10% test, compliance with the minimum set-aside, tax credit recapture during the compliance period, deferred developer fees, special allocations of partnership income and loss, tax-exempt status, and property tax abatement. We routinely work to develop creative and sound deal structures to address these issues. We routinely provide guidance to clients on issues regarding credit enhancement, securitization and defeasance.