Aaron J. Yowell

My focus

Aligning interests

Building new affordable housing and preserving housing requires marshaling diverse sets of government agencies and debt and equity partners within an ever more complex set of programs and incentives. We guide developers and investors in building transactions on the foundation of our broad and deep experience. For example, we recently helped a for-profit developer and a nonprofit operator acquire and finance a hybrid supportive housing and transitional housing project. The project was financed with a mix of subsidy, credit tenant lease financing, a Freddie Mac loan, and brownfields equity. Getting to closing required us to harmonize the interests of each of these sources while protecting our clients’ core interests.

Project management and legal tech

Up-to-the-minute deal awareness is essential. We rely on strong project management to update the members of our team and our clients. Affordable housing transactions, which often involve upwards of five or six different sources of debt financing, tax credit equity, and state and local tax exemptions, present a unique opportunity to create value through efficiency. During my time as Chief Innovation Officer, our team has developed several approaches that reduce friction for our clients. However, our innovation initiatives are not only focused on increasing transactional efficiency but also on helping clients identify opportunities for existing assets and unlock new lines of business. We work closely with our clients to develop new financing models for much-needed housing, including using new sources and regulatory approaches. We relish the opportunity to partner with our clients on their most challenging transactions.

Analysis and sustainability

I am proud to be on the advisory board of the Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy, which conducts cutting-edge research on urban development and affordable housing. In addition to affordable housing, sustainability and green building are very important to me. I was a founding board member of GreenHomeNYC, a nonprofit offering sustainability resources for small- and medium-sized buildings in New York City.

Looking ahead

The New York City and State governments continue to try to outdo each other in housing production, increasingly insisting upon a substantial mix of incomes and other programmatic priorities. At the same time, with the tax-exempt bond volume cap constrained, opportunities abound for less conventional structures and more creative players. For example, with the New York City Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program now orphaned by the lapsing of Affordable New York (a/k/a 421-a), we are going to have to find new ways to build housing. This presents opportunities for traditional affordable housing developers, market-rate developers, and players new to the affordable market to expand in both size and scope. At the same time, on a nationwide basis, portfolios from the first phase of LIHTC development will be reaching the end of their regulatory restrictions, and the developers of these portfolios will be looking to recapitalize and reposition. Developers, lenders, investors, and owners will have to adapt their approaches to accommodate this volume.

Our work in this area will not just be substantive. Through our legal technology initiatives, we continue to improve our efficiency and productivity, reduce transactional pain points, and find new areas where we can help our clients. The last several years have seen tremendous growth in this area, with new tools becoming an essential part of our practice in a matter of months.

Insights

Publications

• “Building Environmentally Sustainable Communities: A Framework for Inclusion” (What Works Collaborative 2010) (co-author with Vicki Been, Mary Cunningham, Ingrid Gould Ellen, Adam Gordon, Margorie Turner and Ken Zimmerman) 
• “That’s Where We Print the Money: Trading Increased Density for Public Amenities,” 15 NYU Environmental Law Journal 493, 2007, reprinted in Zoning and Planning Handbook , Patricia E. Salkin, editor, 2008 
• “Tracking Building Energy Usage,” The Cooperator, June 2008 
• “Inclusionary Zoning for New York City: Predictions and Recommendations for Hudson Yards, Greenpoint-Williamsburg and Beyond,” 14 NYU Wagner Review 1, 2007 

Select Presentations

• “The Latest on Real Property Tax Exemptions for Affordable Housing,” Annual New York State Affordable Housing Conference, May 17, 2023 (Speaker)
• “The Latest in Financing Housing for the Homeless,” NYSAFAH's 2022 Annual New York State Affordable Housing Conference, May 18, 2022 (Moderator)
• “State Rent Regulation Changes: What Affordable Housing Developers Need to Know,” NYHC Housing Marketing & Rent Law Policy Symposium, New York, NY, September 10, 2019
• “New Sources of Equity Workshop,” 20th Annual New York State Affordable Housing Conference, New York City, May 15, 2019
• “Private Equity in Affordable Housing,” Institute for Responsible Housing Preservation with Joshua Plattner, Jonathan Rose Companies; Lisa Davis, PGIM; Louis Harrison, Belveron Real Estate Partners; Rick Gropper, Camber Property Group; and Kim Darga, New York City Housing Preservation and Development, January 2019 (Panel moderator)
• “How Will Opportunity Zones Impact Land Use and Development?” ULI New York Real Estate Outlook 2019, January 2019 (Panelist)
• “Strategies to Maximize Opportunity Zone Investments,” Capalino + Company with Morgan Harper, LISC; Michael Lohr, Goldman Sachs; Richard Roberts, Red Stone Equity Partners; and Adam Roman, Stellar Management, New York City, November 2018 (Panelist)
• “Federal Housing Program Changes & their Impact on States,” NYSAFAH Upstate, September 2018 (with Richard Roberts, Red Stone Equity Partners; Linda Manley, New York State Homes and Community Renewal; and Olivia Barrow, Enterprise Community Partners (Panelist)
• “State Funding Update,” NYSAFAH Upstate, September 2016 (with Marian Zucker, HFA; David Walsh, JPMorgan Chase; Sue McCann, TCB and Victor Sostar, First Sterling (Panelist)
• “Affordable Housing’s Getting Creative,” Bisnow, September 2016 (with Spencer Orkus, L+M Development, Eli Weiss, Joy Construction and Shwetha Subramanian, Forest City Ratner (Panelist)
• “Developing Inclusionary Housing without 421a: Alternative Tax-Exemption Tools,” Nixon Peabody LLP, July 2016 (with Vicki Been, HPD Commissioner and Chuck Brass, Forsyth Street Advisors (Panelist)
• “Beyond Tax Credits: Alternative Financing for Affordable Housing,” Nixon Peabody LLP, March 2016
• “Labor and Employment Issues in Affordable Housing,” Nixon Peabody LLP, November 2015)
• “Low Income Housing Tax Credit Property Dispositions,” IPED, October 2015
• “Developing for ELI (Extremely Low Income) Tenants,” New York State Supportive Housing Conference, May 2015
• “Supportive Housing—Challenges and Opportunities,” IPED, March 2015
• “Negotiating Equity Documents,” Nixon Peabody LLP, November 2014
• “Better Buildings, Greener Pockets: HUD’s New Funding,” Institute for Responsible Housing Preservation, January 2014
• “Real Financing, Real Quick (Financing for People with Short Attention Spans),” Building Energy New York City, October 2013 (Panel moderator)
• “Negotiating Confidentiality Agreements, Northwood Acquisitions,” January 2011
• “The Good Green Meme: Models of Citizen Engagement from the Streets of New York City,” GreenBuild 2009, Phoenix, Arizona (with Gita Nandan, thread collective and Miquela Craytor, Sustainable South Bronx (Panelist)

Ideas

• New York Affordable Housing Legislative Updates
  Affordable Housing Alert | 06.07.22
• Regulatory and Transactional Trends Affecting Affordable Housing
  Affordable Housing | 05.13.22
• Amendment to Private Housing Finance Law Codifies HDFC Sales Tax Exemption
  Affordable Housing Alert | 04.26.21
• New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development Issues New Article XI Real Property Tax Exemption Term Sheet
  Affordable Housing Alert | 04.12.21
• IPED's Affordable Housing Industry Update
  Affordable Housing | 11.09.20