The federal low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program has created more than 2.4 million units of affordable housing since its inception in 1986, and generates about 120,000 more each year, according to the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA). Nixon Peabody attorneys helped shape the legislation that created the affordable housing tax credit and its underlying structures, and we have contributed to every major federal housing program since 1970. Our knowledge of the transactional, regulatory, and legislative history of the LIHTC program helps us solve both familiar and uncommon problems associated with it. When projects require additional knowledge and skill, Nixon Peabody helps structure complex deals creatively, thanks to their extensive experience with both U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) financing and public finance.
Through our representation of investment funds and direct investors, our lawyers have structured, written, and registered many private and public offerings of interests in tax-credit investment partnerships. These partnerships then invest in operating limited partnerships throughout the country. The limited partnerships acquire, construct, or rehabilitate multifamily and single-family housing developments that qualify for tax credits.
We handle the entire range of business and tax structuring, legal opinions, drafting and negotiating partnership and transaction documents, and federal and state tax, securities, and regulatory issues on behalf of investment funds, direct investors, and developers. We have taken a leading role in connection with syndicated, direct, and secondary investments in developments generating low-income housing tax credits, as well as in structuring and negotiating “guaranteed” tax-credit funds for corporate investors. We assist our clients with all aspects of property acquisition and financing; and because of our complementary strengths in affordable housing and public finance, we have unmatched bench strength when it comes to working with public agencies, including HUD, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Rural Development (RD), and others.