Publications
LAW ALERT – Homebuyer Lending Reform: Local Governments and Non-Profits Must Abide By The New Trid Rule
Public agencies and non-profits making affordable homeownership loans may be subject to the new TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule, often referred to as the "TRID Rule". Click here to read more.
LAW ALERT – AB 2: The Rising Community Revitalization Phoenix
Simply put, AB 2 reintroduces tax increment financing to the economic development toolkit of California's communities, by a different name. This law alert provides a brief summary of AB 2 and the...
LAW ALERT – You Can’t Always Get (Or Keep) What You Want: Court Upholds Massive Mitigation Fee Refund
In Walker v. City of San Clemente, a California court of appeal upheld a judgment against San Clemente requiring it to refund more than $10 million in unspent mitigation fees to homeowners because...
LAW ALERT – The (Sometimes) Sleeping Giant Stirs… HUD Publishes Final Rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
HUD released its final rule last month for the implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) provisions. Click here to read more.
LAW ALERT – Fair is Fair: State Agencies Must Consider Fair Share Mitigation Payments Apart From Legislative Earmarks
In City of San Diego v. Board of Trustees of the California State University (San Diego v. CSU), the California Supreme Court rejected CSU's contention that the University could not pay off-site...
LAW ALERT – Federal Fair Housing Disparate Impact Claims Survive Scotus
In Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court held that disparate impact claims are a valid basis for lawsuits under the Federal...
LAW ALERT – HUD Updates RAD Program Rules
On June 15, 2015, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development updated and clarified the rules governing the Rental Assistance Demonstration ("RAD") program. Click here for more information.
LAW ALERT – California Supreme Court Gives The Green Light to Affordable Housing Ordinances
The California Supreme Court on June 15, 2015, in California Building Industry Ass’n (“BIA”) v. City of San Jose, held that local ordinances requiring a proportion of new housing to be affordable...
LAW ALERT – Treasury Announces New Markets Tax Credit Allocation Awards
On June 15, 2015, the United States Department of Treasury ("Treasury") announced the awardees of New Markets Tax Credits ("NMTC") for the 2014 NMTC round. The Treasury awarded a total of $3.5...
LAW ALERT – 2015 Goldfarb & Lipman Annual Legislative Update
The 2015 Goldfarb & Lipman Annual Legislative Update provides a summary of recently enacted legislation that will impact areas of concern to our clients, including: real estate transactions,...
LAW ALERT – Extension of The New Markets Tax Credit Program – 12-22-14
On December 19, President Obama signed into law H.R. 5571, which provides for the one-year extension of a number of different federal tax programs, including the New Markets Tax Credit ("NMTC")...
LAW ALERT – Don’t Forget – Housing Successor Reports Due – 12-11-14
Although redevelopment agencies have been dissolved, obligations to report on housing activities by housing successors continue. Housing successors (those entities that assumed the housing assets...
LAW ALERT – California Bans Pilot (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) Agreements
On September 29, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 1203 and AB 1760, effective January 1, 2015, which ban payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements between local governments and owners...
LAW ALERT – Money, Money, Money: New State Funding for Affordable Housing
ABBA may have sung "it is a rich-man's world," but recent efforts by affordable housing advocates have resulted in significant new state funding for affordable housing. Now that the funds have been...
LAW ALERT – CEQA Exemption Applies to The Direct Adoption of Voter-Sponsored Initiatives – 8-11-14
On August 7, 2014, in Tuolumne Jobs & Small Business Alliance v. Superior Court ("Tuolumne"), the California Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the California Environmental Quality Act...