Affordable Housing
At Seyfarth, we succeed in helping our clients develop, finance, and secure affordable housing solutions that foster strong, inclusive communities. Our Affordable Housing practice integrates deep legal knowledge and understanding of economic realities with a client-centered approach, providing innovative strategies for institutional investors, mission-driven financial institutions, developers, investors, non-profits, and public entities that bring affordable housing projects to life. From navigating complex regulatory frameworks to securing the right financial structures, we provide end-to-end counsel that drives successful outcomes.
HOW WE HELP
The affordable housing landscape involves a maze of regulatory, financial, and development intricacies. Seyfarth’s attorneys serve as trusted partners at each stage of a project lifecycle—from project conception and tax credits to regulatory compliance, negotiating public-private partnerships, and long-term ownership or sale. With changes in federal and state administrations affecting affordable housing initiatives, we monitor the evolving landscape with our clients in mind.
Our cross-disciplinary team’s experience in tax, tax credits and state and federal incentives, renewable energy savings for developments, rent/rent control, landlord-tenant issues, HUD tenant and project based vouchers, grants, and state programs such as the California Homekey program, ensures we can help clients navigate complexities with confidence and efficiency in order to maximize impact while mitigating risk.
Roadblocks can happen. Our attorneys have experience dealing with compliance for previous regulatory or legal claims or challenges and appearing before housing departments and agencies. We have also stepped into failed projects, helping our clients successfully relocate tenants and develop solutions in line with what the law requires.
THE SEYFARTH EXPERIENCE
Our unique blend of legal knowledge, efficient staffing, and advanced technology, including the Seyfarth Link platform, enhances collaboration, communication, and issue resolution to maximize project success. The Real Estate Due Diligence Hub offers specialized support for due diligence tasks, ensuring high-quality reviews by experienced professionals. Additionally, our team actively engages with leading industry organizations, staying informed on key issues and trends to shape policies that benefit our clients.
OUR SERVICES
- Project planning, tax, and tax credit counsel
- Equity and debt financing, structuring, and negotiating with lenders and institutional investors
- Non-profit and grant assistance
- Acquisition and joint ventures of existing affordable-housing, conversion, and development projects
- Tax credit structuring for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs), New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs), and other programs
- Public-private partnerships, including structuring and negotiating with public agencies and HUD financing
- Bond financing and municipal support, including tax-exempt bonds and public incentives
- Regulatory compliance, navigating local, state, and federal regulations, including HUD and Fair Housing Act, rent control, and other requirements
- Mixed-use and mixed-income developments, incorporating affordable housing into larger urban strategies
- Renewable energy tax credits and sales affecting affordable housing
- Property manager interface for purposes of assisting with compliance
- Litigation and regulatory enforcement assistance
- Represented a commercial real estate investment group joint venture to develop workforce housing in New York City. The partnership aims to develop tens of thousands of affordable units tailored for essential workers over an extended period.
- Represented a healthcare and health communication organization in a $50 million affordable housing credit facility.
- Represented a real estate investment firm as a joint venture partner in a $210 million refinancing of their transitional and affordable housing portfolio in New York. The financing, structured as a social bond, is the first of its kind to provide liquidity to institutions supporting affordable housing for low-income and underserved communities.
- Represented a major life insurance company in preparing to sell a low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) property by bringing about compliance with affordable housing law imposed at city, state, and federal levels.
- Representing a leading North American bank in acquiring and converting a large hotel to property dedicated for housing protected populations, subject to long term regulatory agreement.
- Represented a leading West Coast foundation and healthcare organization in a series of financings for community development and grants to multiple affordable housing properties.
- Represented one of the largest residential property managers in the United States with affordable housing regulatory compliance and rent control matters.
- Represented a consultant of the US Department of the Treasury in scrutinizing a grant applicant for Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Bond Guaranty Fund program bond proceeds for a portfolio of affordable housing and other multifamily developments.
- Represented a financial institution in structuring affordable housing and rural assistance programs.
- Represented an affordable housing owner in securing HUD vouchers for over 50 affordable housing tenants.
- Represented leading affordable housing owners and financial institutions in state regulatory compliance matters in and after compliance periods applicable to multiple affordable housing projects
- Represented an owner in the conversion of a portfolio of hotels into newly refurbished affordable housing properties in compliance with the law of four levels of government.
- Represented an owner of a multifamily residential project housing protected populations in leveraging solar tax credits.
- Represented a full service, vertically integrated owner, operator, and developer of residential and commercial real estate in an $8.4 million acquisition and $13.5 million financing of a mixed-use affordable housing development in Brooklyn, New York.
- Represented a California employees retirement association in a $75 million construction of 237 market units and 26 qualified units for affordable housing in Chicago.
- Represented a division of a leading national real estate and community development firm in the acquisition of a multifamily asset in Jacksonville, Florida. The client partnered with a local housing authority and used a new financing model as a solution to housing affordability in Florida.
- Represented state governments and corporate retirement plan clients in establishing housing/mortgage security trading platforms.
- Represented a Canadian bank in a workout project involving the State of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development and the use of funds to convert motels and hotels into housing for protected populations.
- Represented clients in the sale and acquisition of 40B projects in Massachusetts.
- Represented a developer for more than 20 years in the acquisition and disposition of more than 20 LITHC projects, including ground up development, limited partnership agreements with tax credit investors, acquisitions of existing affordable projects, and acquisition of market rate projects that have been converted to affordable.
Related News & Insights
-
Media Mentions
01/06/2026
Seyfarth Real Estate Team Closes 2025 with Two of NYC’s Top Five Deals in One Week
-
Webinar
06/17/2025
Webinar Recording: Got Property? What All Landlords Need to Know About the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
-
Blog Post
06/03/2025
Upcoming Webinar: Got Property? What All Landlords Need to Know About the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
-
Legal Update
06/28/2024
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen Announces New Initiatives to Lower Housing Costs on Behalf of the Biden Administration
At Seyfarth, we succeed in helping our clients develop, finance, and secure affordable housing solutions that foster strong, inclusive communities. Our Affordable Housing practice integrates deep legal knowledge and understanding of economic realities with a client-centered approach, providing innovative strategies for institutional investors, mission-driven financial institutions, developers, investors, non-profits, and public entities that bring affordable housing projects to life. From navigating complex regulatory frameworks to securing the right financial structures, we provide end-to-end counsel that drives successful outcomes.
HOW WE HELP
The affordable housing landscape involves a maze of regulatory, financial, and development intricacies. Seyfarth’s attorneys serve as trusted partners at each stage of a project lifecycle—from project conception and tax credits to regulatory compliance, negotiating public-private partnerships, and long-term ownership or sale. With changes in federal and state administrations affecting affordable housing initiatives, we monitor the evolving landscape with our clients in mind.
Our cross-disciplinary team’s experience in tax, tax credits and state and federal incentives, renewable energy savings for developments, rent/rent control, landlord-tenant issues, HUD tenant and project based vouchers, grants, and state programs such as the California Homekey program, ensures we can help clients navigate complexities with confidence and efficiency in order to maximize impact while mitigating risk.
Roadblocks can happen. Our attorneys have experience dealing with compliance for previous regulatory or legal claims or challenges and appearing before housing departments and agencies. We have also stepped into failed projects, helping our clients successfully relocate tenants and develop solutions in line with what the law requires.
THE SEYFARTH EXPERIENCE
Our unique blend of legal knowledge, efficient staffing, and advanced technology, including the Seyfarth Link platform, enhances collaboration, communication, and issue resolution to maximize project success. The Real Estate Due Diligence Hub offers specialized support for due diligence tasks, ensuring high-quality reviews by experienced professionals. Additionally, our team actively engages with leading industry organizations, staying informed on key issues and trends to shape policies that benefit our clients.
OUR SERVICES
- Project planning, tax, and tax credit counsel
- Equity and debt financing, structuring, and negotiating with lenders and institutional investors
- Non-profit and grant assistance
- Acquisition and joint ventures of existing affordable-housing, conversion, and development projects
- Tax credit structuring for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs), New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs), and other programs
- Public-private partnerships, including structuring and negotiating with public agencies and HUD financing
- Bond financing and municipal support, including tax-exempt bonds and public incentives
- Regulatory compliance, navigating local, state, and federal regulations, including HUD and Fair Housing Act, rent control, and other requirements
- Mixed-use and mixed-income developments, incorporating affordable housing into larger urban strategies
- Renewable energy tax credits and sales affecting affordable housing
- Property manager interface for purposes of assisting with compliance
- Litigation and regulatory enforcement assistance
- Represented a commercial real estate investment group joint venture to develop workforce housing in New York City. The partnership aims to develop tens of thousands of affordable units tailored for essential workers over an extended period.
- Represented a healthcare and health communication organization in a $50 million affordable housing credit facility.
- Represented a real estate investment firm as a joint venture partner in a $210 million refinancing of their transitional and affordable housing portfolio in New York. The financing, structured as a social bond, is the first of its kind to provide liquidity to institutions supporting affordable housing for low-income and underserved communities.
- Represented a major life insurance company in preparing to sell a low income housing tax credit (LIHTC) property by bringing about compliance with affordable housing law imposed at city, state, and federal levels.
- Representing a leading North American bank in acquiring and converting a large hotel to property dedicated for housing protected populations, subject to long term regulatory agreement.
- Represented a leading West Coast foundation and healthcare organization in a series of financings for community development and grants to multiple affordable housing properties.
- Represented one of the largest residential property managers in the United States with affordable housing regulatory compliance and rent control matters.
- Represented a consultant of the US Department of the Treasury in scrutinizing a grant applicant for Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Bond Guaranty Fund program bond proceeds for a portfolio of affordable housing and other multifamily developments.
- Represented a financial institution in structuring affordable housing and rural assistance programs.
- Represented an affordable housing owner in securing HUD vouchers for over 50 affordable housing tenants.
- Represented leading affordable housing owners and financial institutions in state regulatory compliance matters in and after compliance periods applicable to multiple affordable housing projects
- Represented an owner in the conversion of a portfolio of hotels into newly refurbished affordable housing properties in compliance with the law of four levels of government.
- Represented an owner of a multifamily residential project housing protected populations in leveraging solar tax credits.
- Represented a full service, vertically integrated owner, operator, and developer of residential and commercial real estate in an $8.4 million acquisition and $13.5 million financing of a mixed-use affordable housing development in Brooklyn, New York.
- Represented a California employees retirement association in a $75 million construction of 237 market units and 26 qualified units for affordable housing in Chicago.
- Represented a division of a leading national real estate and community development firm in the acquisition of a multifamily asset in Jacksonville, Florida. The client partnered with a local housing authority and used a new financing model as a solution to housing affordability in Florida.
- Represented state governments and corporate retirement plan clients in establishing housing/mortgage security trading platforms.
- Represented a Canadian bank in a workout project involving the State of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development and the use of funds to convert motels and hotels into housing for protected populations.
- Represented clients in the sale and acquisition of 40B projects in Massachusetts.
- Represented a developer for more than 20 years in the acquisition and disposition of more than 20 LITHC projects, including ground up development, limited partnership agreements with tax credit investors, acquisitions of existing affordable projects, and acquisition of market rate projects that have been converted to affordable.
Related News & Insights
-
Media Mentions
01/06/2026
Seyfarth Real Estate Team Closes 2025 with Two of NYC’s Top Five Deals in One Week
-
Webinar
06/17/2025
Webinar Recording: Got Property? What All Landlords Need to Know About the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
-
Blog Post
06/03/2025
Upcoming Webinar: Got Property? What All Landlords Need to Know About the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
-
Legal Update
06/28/2024
Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen Announces New Initiatives to Lower Housing Costs on Behalf of the Biden Administration