Jeff Sacks is a leading community development attorney. His clients include large community development corporations, senior housing providers and housing authorities as well as a variety of large institutional service providers. He often represents nonprofit organizations that are embarking on major real estate projects that allow their organizations to deliver their services in new and innovative ways.
I assist my clients in using federal low-income housing and historic tax credits to develop affordable housing and mixed-use developments. Given the multiple funding sources necessary to complete any project today including federal resources from HUD as well as state and local funds, I work with our developer clients to assure that all of these funders work together to allow for the successful completion of these projects with the most efficient deal structure.
Some of my largest and most complex projects have involved substantial investments in very poor communities utilizing the new markets tax credit program. These projects, which have included major new urban medical centers, a supercomputing project as well as smaller educational facilities, can be the catalyst for additional neighborhood investment and substantial job creation.
I have worked with a range of public housing authorities in the transformation of some of the most outdated public housing projects in the Commonwealth into new and vital communities that continue to serve their low-income residents. I served as a public housing authority commissioner for more than twenty years, and in 2013 worked on new legislation in Massachusetts to modernize and reform the Commonwealth’s public housing system.
Much of my work involves advising nonprofit boards of directors about the most efficient and effective legal and financial approaches to fulfilling their corporate missions. A central part of my work is framing the legal options and documentation to boards of directors.
I served as the first chair of the Newton Community Preservation Committee and have worked with that program for more than ten years. This unique state and local partnership provides funding exclusively for community housing, open space preservation, historic preservation and recreation facilities in cities and towns across the Commonwealth.
I am working on new types of joint ventures among nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies to improve the delivery of housing and other community services. In a period of dwindling direct government support for community development activities, consolidation of services and the creation of new service delivery models are crucial with organizations working together in new ways.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly | August 16, 2018
Boston Affordable Housing & Real Estate partner Jeff Sacks wrote this contributed article analyzing a recent decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that “likely will lead to greater scrutiny of all historic preservation projects involving church properties.”
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly | April 20, 2017
Boston affordable housing partner Jeff Sacks and Manchester commercial litigation associate Chris Minue were included in this article which focuses on a legal battle to bring new affordable housing units to the city of Newton, a suburb of Boston.
Multi-Housing News | November 22, 2016
Nixon Peabody is mentioned as legal counsel representing the developers of Hearth at Four Corners, a 54-unit affordable senior community in Dorchester, MA. Boston affordable housing partner Jeff Sacks is lead counsel on this project.
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly | November 10, 2016
Boston Affordable Housing partner Jeffrey Sacks was quoted in this article about a homeowner’s rehab case regarding the exercise of right of first refusal under Section 42(i)(7).
Bisnow | October 05, 2016
Boston Affordable Housing partner Jeff Sacks is mentioned in this article about a recent panel he moderated focused on the challenges of affordable housing in the Boston area.
Boston Business Journal | April 29, 2016
Boston affordable housing partner Jeff Sacks authored this op-ed about the lack of affordable rental housing in Massachusetts.
Yale Law School, J.D.
Brown University, B.A.
Massachusetts
Jeff was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© 2019 in the field of Real Estate Law. Jeff has been listed in Best Lawyers since 2012.
Additionally, Jeff has been recognized as a “New England Super Lawyer” in Real Estate based on a peer-review survey by Boston Magazine (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, and 2012).
Jeff Sacks served as a commissioner of the Newton Housing Authority from 1992 to 2014, and also served on Governor Deval Patrick’s Public Housing Reform Commission. He serves on DHCD’s Public Housing Advisory Committee, and as a director of the Citizens Housing and Planning Association, Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly, and the Lawyers Clearinghouse on Affordable Housing and Homelessness. Mr. Sacks is also a director of the statewide Massachusetts Community Preservation Coalition.
