Affordable Housing

The attorneys of Bryant Miller Olive have played a significant role in all areas of affordable housing finance for nearly fifty years. Clients include state and local government issuers of tax-exempt and taxable debt, private and not-for-profit developers, public housing agencies, investment bankers and commercial lenders. Members of the Affordable Housing Practice Group regularly consult with counties, cities and other local governmental units on methods to address critical shortages of workforce housing. We have advised our housing clients on financings with more than $9 billion in aggregate value and continue to be recognized as the leading affordable housing public finance firm in the southeast.

Bryant Miller Olive’s housing team’s experience in addition to serving as bond counsel, disclosure counsel and underwriters counsel in tax-exempt and taxable project financings, includes:

• Tax-exempt bond financed, FHA-insured mortgage transactions
• Project-based Section 8 financings and HUD Mark-to Market programs
• Mixed-financed tax credit developments
• Market rate, 80/20, 60/40, 50/20 transactions
• Community land trusts
• 501(c)(3) tax-exempt bond financed developments
• Bonds for new construction, acquisition-rehabilitations, remarketings and refundings for multifamily residential rental facilities
• Subordinate and taxable bonds
• Single family mortgage revenue bonds with open indentures, down payment and closing cost subsidies, second mortgage programs and tax-exempt and taxable short-term lines of credit
• Sale of pools of mortgage-backed securities and pools of whole mortgage loans
• Post-issuance work-outs, stand-still and forbearance agreements
• Resolution of credit enhancer, bond insurer and investment provider downgrades
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac credit enhanced structures

Bryant Miller Olive works closely with each client to develop innovative enhancements to bond financings for affordable housing. We have also dedicated significant resources to the development of a nationally recognized Section 103 federal tax practice, assisting our housing clients with private letter ruling requests, arbitrage issues and evaluation of the creative and complex tax structures continually emerging in the current housing market. Over the last several years, we have also assisted several clients in responding to random IRS audits for both multifamily and single family revenue bonds. In keeping with Bryant Miller Olive’s multi-disciplined team approach to meeting our client’s diverse needs, our Affordable Housing Practice Group regularly collaborates with our related practice groups in Real Property, Public Private Partnerships, Government Consulting and State and Local Government to provide additional depths of legal expertise to our housing clients. Our comprehensive understanding of affordable housing enables us to provide our clients with practical solutions to the full range of legal challenges faced in creating and maintaining housing stock, from initial planning through debt issuance, post-issuance compliance and default remedies.