practice areas | public agencies | community groups | members of the firm | hiring

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP represents cities, counties and redevelopment agencies in connection with constitutional and regulatory issues associated with affordable housing.  

• The firm represented Affordable Housing Associates (AHA) of Berkeley, California in the trial court in a lawsuit challenging the Berkeley’s approval of a mixed-use affordable housing complex for senior citizens. The suit challenged the project under CEQA, state planning and zoning law, and the City of Berkeley’s General Plan and Municipal Code. The City and AHA ultimately won the case on all grounds, including defeating challenges to density bonuses the City granted to keep the housing affordable to low-income seniors.

• The firm drafted an inclusionary housing ordinance adopted by the City of Sacramento and advised the City and Redevelopment Agency in the preparation of implementing documents, including prototype Inclusionary Housing Plans, Inclusionary Housing Agreements (Regulatory Agreements), and model development agreement language.

• The firm advised the City of Folsom in connection with its housing element and drafted an inclusionary housing ordinance, a housing trust fund fee ordinance, and an ordinance waiving certain fees and relaxing certain development standards for qualifying affordable housing projects.

• The firm worked with the City of Sacramento and the Sacramento Housing Redevelopment Agency in creating affordable housing through a Sacramento Housing Trust Fund. The firm advised the Agency in selecting a consultant to prepare the nexus report, defining the legal requirements for the report, and in developing an analytic approach to satisfy those requirements. In collaboration with Agency staff and the Department of City Planning, the firm drafted the Housing Trust Fund Ordinance and advised the Agency during the hearing process. The firm successfully defended litigation challenging the ordinance. The firm subsequently updated the Housing Trust Fund Ordinance.

• The firm drafted an inclusionary housing and affordable housing trust fund ordinance for San Luis Obispo County. The firm identified alternative approaches to inclusionary housing used by other jurisdictions in California, worked with County staff and consultants to identify a conservative nexus for imposition of the inclusionary housing requirement, prepared options papers for County staff, and drafted a final ordinance and accompanying findings for approval by the Board of Supervisors.

• The firm worked with the Los Angeles City Redevelopment Agency and the Mayor’s Office of Housing to produce a draft nexus fee and nexus study for all commercial, office and retail activity in the City. The fee fell victim to a recession and was not adopted.
  

• The firm has represented numerous cities and redevelopment agencies in drafting and negotiating development agreements and disposition and development agreements. Some of these agreements contain complex provisions for the financing, construction, and development linkages associated with low and very low income housing.