The real estate attorneys at High Swartz LLP have represented for-profit and not-for-profit developers of affordable housing. The projects have ranged from smaller, low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) developments involving new construction of 40 or fewer apartment units, to large rehabilitation/preservation transactions involving layered refinancing, the de-coupling of interest reduction payments from the original loan, and the application of such payments to new, HUD-insured, first lien financing. A number of projects have involved historic tax credits as well as LIHTC. The physical layouts of the affordable housing projects have included scattered site developments, garden-type apartments, and mid-rise apartment buildings. Several of the projects have involved mixed-use facilities requiring submission of the project building or buildings to a condominium regime or regimes, with commercial space on the first floor and residential units on the upper or adjacent floors. A number of our projects have involved ground leases from local housing authorities. Several sites involving new affordable housing developments have been submitted to “land condominium” regimes.
The sources of financing for development transactions in which we have participated range from LIHTC syndications to HUD-insured loans from conventional lenders, PennHOMES loans from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, and housing assistance loans from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. At the more local level, we have represented our developer clients with respect to HOME loans and CBDG loans from local finance agencies, including the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, the Chester County Department of Community Development, and the Scranton Office of Economic and Community Development, among others. Financing for particular projects can involve four or more sources, all layered into one transaction.