Supportive Housing

/Overview

Supportive housing provides affordable housing with on-site services for persons with special needs, including formerly homeless individuals, persons with mental illness or developmental disabilities, and formerly incarcerated individuals, among other populations. Pairing stable, affordable housing with supportive services enables these individuals and families to lead more productive lives.

Our attorneys are committed to helping ensure clients can successfully close on financing to build these critically important supportive housing developments. We understand the complexities of these transactions and have deep experience with structuring and financing these deals.

/Representative experience

• 200 units of affordable and supportive housing. Represented a developer and a Brooklyn-based not-for-profit organization in a transaction to finance and construct in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The $83 million project is financed by tax-exempt bonds issued by the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA), a subsidy loan from HFA, subordinate financing from the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, low-income housing tax credit equity, and operating and rental subsidy from the New York State Office of Mental Health through the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI). All of the units will be for tenants with household incomes at or below 60% of AMI, and 72 units will be reserved for homeless adults with serious mental health problems as well as individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
• New construction of affordable and supportive housing units. Represented developer in transaction involving three separate parcels in the Bronx that will include 138 affordable housing units, 41 of which will be supportive housing units funded through the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative. The $65 million project is financed by tax-exempt bonds issued by the New York State HFA, tax credits, subsidy loans from HFA and HPD, and project-based Section 8 vouchers.
• New construction of affordable units on nursing home site. Represented a joint venture of a faith-based housing nonprofit and a faith-based healthcare nonprofit to build 89 units of affordable housing on the former nursing home site in the Bronx. The transaction included supportive services funding from the New York State Department of Health through the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI), as well as a project-based rental subsidy contract from the New York City Housing Authority, tax-exempt bonds issued by the New York State Housing Finance Agency (HFA), and low-income housing tax credits and subordinate loans through HFA’s Supportive Housing Opportunity Program (SHOP) and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Senior Affordable Rental Apartments program.
• 491 units of supportive housing—represented the developer acquiring and redeveloping 90 Sands in DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY. The facility includes 30,000 square feet of community/commercial space and a 7,500-square-foot outdoor plaza. Of the 491 units, 309 are for the homeless and 191 for families or individuals at various income levels.
• The Rise, affordable and supportive housing development—represented the developer of this $50 million, 72-unit affordable and supportive housing project in Brownsville, Brooklyn, for formerly incarcerated individuals and their families
• Vital Brookdale, affordable housing and health-focused community space—represented the development team creating Vital Brookdale in Brooklyn, NY, which includes 160 affordable housing units and 25,000 square feet of health-focused community space. It features 36 supportive units for youth aging out of foster care and individuals with developmental disabilities. Negotiated with Brookdale Hospital Medical Center to transfer ownership of a vacant site for affordable housing and an ambulatory care center. 
• 77 units of affordable and supportive housing—represented a nonprofit developer in acquiring and financing ten acres in Port Jefferson Station, NY, for constructing 77 affordable and supportive housing units, including 32 workforce housing units and 45 units for persons with special needs, with 25 reserved for veterans with disabilities
• Two transitional housing projects—represented the nonprofit developer on an 11-story development with 105 shelter beds and community space in Brooklyn, NY, and a new construction congregate shelter with 88 shelter beds in Queens
• 260 supportive housing units—represented a nonprofit in the redevelopment of 260 housing units for seniors and families in Watertown, NY, including activation of a non-residential space 
• 40 supportive housing units—represented the developer in the acquisition, renovation, and rehabilitation of 70 late 19th-century row houses containing more than 200 units, including 40 supportive housing units in Albany, NY. 
• 72-unit affordable housing facility—represented developer in acquiring and financing the construction of a 72-unit affordable housing facility in Rochester, NY, which contains 21 supportive housing units 

/Recognition

• Nixon Peabody has been named a Tier 1 National firm for Real Estate Law in the 2025 edition of Best Law Firms®.