Los Angeles, CA. The Bond Buyer has named the California Health Facilities Financing Authority’s $500 million issuance of “No Place Like Home” bonds as the publication’s 19th annual Deal of the Year. Nixon Peabody is proud to have served as disclosure counsel for the deal.
“No Place Like Home” represents the municipal market’s first large-scale bond program created to invest in homeless housing infrastructure, secured directly by taxes on high-income residents. The state legislation gives California $2 billion in bond authority, backed by revenues from a 1% tax on personal income over $1 million. The state legislature approved the No Place Like Home Act of 2018, which submitted the No Place Like Home Program to California voters. With their approval, voters agreed to fund the construction of permanent supportive housing for persons who are homeless or at risk for homelessness and suffer from mental illness.
“We applaud this innovative approach to addressing the homelessness crisis that faces our communities,” said Daniel Deaton, a partner in Nixon Peabody’s Project Finance and Public Finance practice. “This program moves the needle in an impactful way, and we are proud and honored to be involved with this project. We would also like to share our sincere congratulations to California State Treasurer Fiona Ma for being selected as the Freda Johnson Trailblazing Women in Public Finance winner, and to all those recognized as Trailblazers and their contributions in bettering our communities.”
In selecting its Deal of the Year, The Bond Buyer’s editorial board noted that the “No Place Like Home” issuance met all of their criteria, including creativity, the ability to pull a complex transaction together under challenging conditions, the ability to serve as a model for other financings, and the public purpose for which a deal’s proceeds were used.
“It introduced a new, innovative credit and a replicable financing model,” said Mike Scarchilli, editor-in-chief of The Bond Buyer at the December 16 virtual event. “It attracted broad interest domestically and internationally. And though it wasn’t brought to market in response to the pandemic, the significant social problem it addresses has been exacerbated since this deal’s pricing.”
“It has been exciting to see construction on some of these supportive housing units right in my very own neighborhood,” said Dia Walrath, a Nixon Peabody Project Finance and Public Finance associate who also supported the deal.
In addition to Dan Deaton and Dia Walrath, the Nixon Peabody deal team also included Heather White.
