Our Practice
R&C’s Housing Policy and Regulation practice focuses on both the compliance requirements of affordable housing and community development programs and the development of policy alternatives to more effectively implement solutions in communities. R&C attorneys are thought leaders with extensive experience handling regulatory matters before the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and other federal agencies and with advocating for policy and statutory changes before Congress and the executive branch. The Firm understands the statutory and regulatory framework governing our clients’ work, which enables R&C to develop innovative and targeted strategies to both comply with and impact changes to the law of affordable housing and community development.
Our Work
R&C’s Housing Policy and Regulation practice helps clients manage compliance with operational obligations to HUD, the IRS, and other federal agencies. R&C counsels on matters such as asset management, program eligibility, federal laws applicable to relocation and property acquisition, procurement (including bid protests), lobbying, conflicts of interest, and issues involving affiliates/instrumentalities. R&C assists clients with compliance with HUD Section 3, the Fair Housing Act, the Community Reinvestment Act, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, federal wage rules, environmental review and other federal regulations, as well as audits or investigations by the federal and state offices of inspector generals. We also assist clients with legislative, policy, and regulatory matters concerning the full range of federal affordable and community development programs.
Why R&C?
The attorneys in the Housing Policy and Regulation practice are deeply engaged in the development of the law impacting housing and community development through the Firm’s representation of national advocacy organizations, local housing and community development practitioners large and small, and its own membership in legal groups that monitor and encourage statutory and regulatory changes. R&C attorneys regularly participate in meetings with federal agencies, affordable housing and community development advocates, think tank representatives, and Congressional staff to shape new programs. Similarly, R&C routinely comments on federal regulations applicable to our clients and, as appropriate, challenges rules established outside the requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act or similar rulemaking obligations. R&C’s multi-faceted knowledge of federal housing and community development programs, as well as community and economic development initiatives, and the implementation of such programs and initiatives means that R&C can assist clients on a variety of compliance and policy matters more capably and economically than most law firms. R&C’s experience with the practical issues that clients face on a daily basis, combined with R&C’s active participation in the development of law and of policies and procedures, gives R&C attorneys a rare depth of understanding of the law. This broad-based knowledge at the confluence of law and policy makes R&C’s representation uniquely efficient and valuable.