A new blueprint for affordable housing
Share
Overview
Our Affordable Housing Team regularly acts in deals between non-profit and for-profit developers. In this case, the team, led by John Fox and Stephanie Lanz, acted for Markham Inter-Church Committee for Affordable Housing (“MICAH”) on a significant acquisition of development land in Markham, which will be developed to provide 161affordable rental housing units.
This deal represents a successful collaboration among a for-profit developer, our client, and the public sector, the latter both as planning regulator and the source of financing for our client. The lands were donated to MICAH by a private developer, while the City of Markham provided $10 million dollars in financing to support the pre-development work. Robins Appleby advised MICAH on the structuring and completion of the land transfer and led the negotiation of the municipal financing arrangements. We also navigated the interconnected real estate, development and financing considerations involved, including a shared facilities agreement with the neighbouring private developer.
This transaction displays the multidisciplinary work often required to move affordable housing projects from concept toward construction. This kind of collaboration between for-profit and non-profit actors - aimed at generating below-market housing - can be complex. But we expect them to be a continuing part of the real estate
landscape for both non-profit and for-profit developers. These transactions are still novel, and we appreciate our client’s vision and tenacity in making this happen. We’d also like to thank our friends at SHS Inc., who provided development management advice to MICAH throughout.
/john-fox.tmb-cfthumb_s.webp?Culture=en&sfvrsn=4c040103_2)
