Community and Economic Development
Fair Housing
Historic Tax Credits
Homeless Assistance Programs
Gubb & Barshay LLP has extensive experience with a broad array of HUD financing programs, including: RAD, HOME, CDBG, Sections 202 and 811, HUD insurance programs (such as Section 236 and 221(d)(3)), and Section 8 rental assistance programs. We also advise developers of special needs and senior housing about fair housing and accessibility issues, as well as other HUD issues particular to such housing providers.
Gubb & Barshay LLP is active in the representation of affordable housing clients in the development of mixed-use projects, including both vertical subdivisions and master lease transactions, and projects which have facilities that are shared by adjacent developments owned by entities which may be related or completely unrelated to our clients. Our projects often include use rights which require easements or joint use agreements which range from granting simple access rights to more complicated easement rights for parking, utilities, use of amenities, and community space. In addition, we are often asked to assist lenders in the preparation of loan documents and escrow instructions, and in the review of due diligence materials, including architect and construction contracts, title policies and surveys, insurance certificates, subdivision covenants and restrictions, and easements. In connection therewith, we regularly draft and negotiate subordination and inter-creditor agreements with other subordinate lenders and we are often involved in closing loans on projects that may have five or more subordinate loans.
Rental Subsidy Programs
Gubb & Barshay LLP has been involved in the structuring and closing of over 500 low income housing tax credit program transactions in California and other states on behalf of affordable housing developers. The firm has worked on projects with a wide variety of direct and syndicated investors and negotiated transactions involving nearly every major lender and investor in the area. We have extensive experience on both new construction and acquisition/rehabilitation developments, with a particular expertise in resyndications of existing LIHTC developments. In addition to our thorough review of the syndication documents, we also closely review the financial projections to structure the transaction to maximize syndication proceeds. We provide all certifications required by tax credit allocating agencies and have acted as special tax counsel on highly specialized tax credit issues. We also represent developers in limited partner investor buyout transactions.
A substantial portion of our practice is devoted to representing developers and charitable organizations in tax-exempt bond transactions. Gubb & Barshay LLP has experience with all types of financing features used on housing bond issues, including variable rate bonds, all types of credit enhancement, tax allocation bonds, and interest rate swaps. We have worked on a wide variety of private placement and rated bond transactions, and with both private activity bonds and 501(c)(3) bonds for housing as well as other charitable organizations.
Gubb & Barshay LLP has worked with all State of California financing programs, including all major programs sponsored by the California Housing Finance Agency and the California Department of Housing and Community Development, including AHSC, IIG, VHHP, LPR, MHP, TOD, HOME, and the farmworker grant programs, and we have particular expertise in Article 34 issues. At the local level, we have worked with cities and successor housing agencies throughout the State and have a thorough knowledge of the redevelopment dissolution law and related areas, such as relocation law and prevailing wage law.
New Markets Tax Credits
A substantial portion of Gubb & Barshay’s developer clients are nonprofit corporations, and we currently advise over 65 nonprofit corporations on a wide variety of nonprofit legal and Section 501(c)(3) issues. In addition to the organization of new corporations (and related partnerships and limited liability companies) and the reorganization of existing entities, we prepare and consult on applications for tax-exempt status and advise our clients on unrelated business income issues and how to structure grants from private foundations. We have also obtained several favorable private letter rulings for clients on a variety of tax-exempt issues.