Practices: Housing Finance

Government entities, nonprofit organizations, builders and developers all have an important stake in securing financial and development assistance for single and multi-family housing projects that benefit elderly and low-income individuals. These are complex transactions typically funded by a variety of sources, including government agencies, traditional lenders and investment syndications. If you are engaged in such work, from the perspective of either the public or the private sectors, you will also need help to manage the multiple regulatory requirements and tax implications of affordable housing projects.

Extensive Work

Ungaretti & Harris gives you the advantage of our extensive work in the area of affordable housing finance. We have served as bond counsel to housing authorities nationwide, and have handled hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-exempt and taxable housing bonds issued at fixed and variable rates by the Illinois Housing Development Authority. We advise public agencies on structuring and compliance issues involved with financing from private sources and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and also counsel financial institutions investing as limited partners in, and making loans for, low-income housing tax credit transactions. You also benefit from our experience at developing collateralized financial packages involving the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) and other government mortgage guarantors.

Investment Credits

Investors, syndicators, developers and lenders have a big stake in the effective tax structuring of low-income housing and tax increment financing projects. In more than half of the states across the country, Ungaretti & Harris has handled tax, real estate, bond financing and lending concerns from numerous tax credit transactions. You get help with all of the multi-disciplinary issues that these projects can involve:

• Historic preservation credits.
• Tax-exempt financing.
• Tax analysis and structuring.
• Investor due diligence.
• State-allocated 9% transactions.
• Tax-exempt bond 4% tax credit transactions.

Whether your project is an inner city, low-income housing development, a mixed-income project or senior housing, you get a dedicated team that can quickly and cost-effectively handle all aspects of implementation.

Special Situations

Ungaretti & Harris has been recognized as an innovator in public finance innovation. In 2003 The Bond Buyer, the public finance industry’s most authoritative publication, named the $298 million capital program revenue bond deal by the Chicago Housing Authority as its “Deal of the Year.” Ungaretti & Harris served as underwriter’s counsel for this first-of-a-kind transaction. For the first time anywhere in the country, these revenue grant anticipation bonds securitized HUD capital grants, a financing source that has since been used as an example for transactions by other housing agencies.

Experienced Counsel

Affordable housing is an essential public purpose, and financing involves a complex combination of federal, state and private sources. If you need the help of an experienced bond counsel for an affordable housing project, we can handle any tax-exempt or taxable financing vehicle, including securitization and collateralization of federal housing grants and guarantees.