Dykema Authors New Legal Guide To Affordable Housing Development

Press Releases

6.21.11

DETROIT - Dykema Gossett PLLC is pleased to announce the release of The Legal Guide to Affordable Housing Development, 2nd Edition. Co-edited by Dykema's Rochelle Lento, Of Counsel with the firm in the Detroit, Michigan office, and Tim Iglesias, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law. Dykema's Danielle Graceffa, an associate in Dykema's Real Estate practice group, also co-authored the chapter on Federal Sources of Financing with Rochelle Lento.

The Legal Guide to Affordable Housing Development, 2nd Edition contains a completely updated Affordable Housing Development Resource List. This Resource List is a comprehensive list of websites and other citations to general reference works and technical materials concerning affordable housing development, as well as compilations and evaluations of affordable housing strategies.

The Legal Guide to Affordable Housing Development is a clearly written, practical resource for attorneys representing local governments (municipalities, counties, housing authorities, and redevelopment agencies), housing developers (both for-profit and nonprofit), investors, financial institutions, and populations eligible for housing. With substantial cross-referencing between chapters and an extensive index for quick access to on-point information, the guide is organized into three separate parts:

  • Part I covers the regulatory framework of developing affordable housing. It includes chapters on planning requirements and zoning issues, a wide variety of constitutional and statutory provisions promoting affordable housing, and building and housing codes affecting affordable housing.
  • Part II addresses the provision of affordable housing finance, including local, state, and federal regulation of private, local, state, and federal sources of finance; local government powers; and mixed-finance housing development.
  • Part III surveys critical legal obligations that affect affordable housing after it has been built, looking at regulatory, compliance and enforcement at the state and federal level as well as preservation of subsidized housing issues. It also includes a chapter on federal relocation and replacement law that concerns housing acquired for the purpose of making it affordable.

The book also features updates on all of the chapters from the best-selling first edition on critical issues such as the various and ever-changing legal challenges, new financing opportunities, the "greening" of affordable housing development, preservation and more.

The American Bar Association's Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law includes a diverse membership of more than 3,000 lawyers and 6,000 law students sharing the passion of strengthening the affordable housing and community development environment of our nation's communities. The Forum is led by a Governing Committee of 12 members elected by the membership, with advice from liaisons from other ABA entities with interests complementary to the Forum's mission.

Rochelle Lento leads Dykema's Affordable Housing Practice in the firm's Real Estate Department. She has worked in the area of affordable housing in Michigan for 25 years, representing developers utilizing Low Income Housing Tax Credits; Historic Tax Credits; State Brownfield Tax Credits; HOME, CDBG, and NSP Funds; and, more recently, Section 1602 and TCAP financing. She is also past chair of the ABA Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law and past editor of the Forum's Journal.

Dykema attorney Danielle Graceffa, an Associate in Dykema's Real Estate practice group, was also a valuable resource in editing this comprehensive book.

The 548 page book, The Legal Guide to Affordable Housing Development 2nd Edition is available for purchase for $139.95 from the American Bar Association by clicking here.

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