Parties/Process/Roles of Counsel

• Author: Alysse Hollis - Richard M. Froehlich
• Pages: 9-20

Let’s pause here and take a break from the black letter law to talk

about how affordable multifamily housing deals actually work.

Who is involved? How long do they take? And, most importantly,

where do the lawyers come in?

I. Parties

A. Issuer

The starting point for any tax-exempt bond transaction is to identify

an eligible issuer. In most cases that will be a governmental entity, but

in some cases an issuer may be an on-behalf of entity, for example a

63-20 Corporation (a nonprot public benet corporation formed

pursuant to Section 63-20 of the Code), or some type of agency or

commission created for the purpose of issuing affordable multifam-

ily housing bonds, or even, in some cases, a nonprot organization.

The types of governmental entities that may issue tax-exempt

bonds will vary from state to state. All states have a State Hous-

ing Finance Agency (HFA), although they go by different names.

HFAs are created by state statute and are typically governed by a

board of directors who are appointed by state leadership. HFAs

often create and administer their own programs to promote afford-

able housing, many of which are funded in part through state and

9

Parties/Process/

Roles of Counsel 2

Len55424_02_c02_p009-020.indd 9 4/20/16 12:04 PM