What We Do

[expand title=”RENTAL HOUSING” id=”rentalhousing”]

CEI assists nonprofit clients throughout California and other states with a wide range of new construction and rehabilitation developments serving low income families, seniors, and special needs populations. Projects range from urban residential hotels for homeless individuals to suburban senior developments, to rural housing for farm worker families.

CEI assistance includes:

• • site evaluation and acquisition strategies
• • selection of development team members
• • financial feasibility analysis
• • structuring of project financing
• • applications for conventional and tax-exempt bond financing
• • applications to local, state, federal soft financing and subsidy sources
• • negotiations with lenders and investors
• • coordination of the development process through occupancy

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[expand title=”TAX CREDIT FINANCING” id=”taxcreditfinancing”]

CEI has extensive experience working with nonprofit developers to raise equity capital through the syndication of low-income housing tax credits, energy credits, and historic tax credits. CEI helps clients negotiate with investors to maximize the amount of equity raised while maintaining control over the development and ensuring long-term affordability for the residents.

Syndication services include:

• • initial feasibility analysis, including projection of equity that can be raised through 4% or 9% low income housing tax credits
• • analysis of potential for equity raised through historic tax credits where applicable
• • identification of potential investors
• • preparation of financial projections for lenders and investors
• • solicitation of investor proposals
• • evaluation of investor proposals
• • negotiation with investors
• • structuring the syndication to maximize long term goals of the sponsor and tenants
• • assistance with formation and closing of syndication partnership determination of the most appropriate bond structure (fixed rate or low- floater; private placement or public sale; etc.)
• • structuring the bonds to work with tax credit and other sources of financing

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[expand title=”SUPPORTIVE HOUSING” id=”supportivehousing”]

CEI assists clients with supportive housing projects targeted specifically for a special needs population or integrating people with special needs into a development with a general low income population. From the HUD elderly and disabled programs of decades past to new state programs such as Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention (VHHP) program, CEI has assisted clients in structuring projects to maximize the value of the funding sources while best meeting the housing and services needs of varied populations.

CEI’s Supportive Housing services include:

• • preliminary feasibility analysis of project targeted to special populations, including evaluation of operating subsidies needed
• • analysis of available funding sources for development, operations, and services
• • analysis of combining funding sources targeted to special populations with other sources including tax credits
• • if requested, assisting with matching nonprofit developer with experienced service provider
• • assistance with applications to financing and subsidy sources as well as conventional lenders
• • tax credit projects, assistance with structuring projects to meet investor requirements

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[expand title=”BUYBACK OF YEAR 15 PROJECTS” id=”projectbuyback”]

CEI has experience in assisting nonprofit clients to buy out the tax credit investor at the end of a project’s 15 year compliance period. CEI has assisted in the repurchase of more than 175 properties since the earliest tax credit projects hit their 15-year marks in the early 2000s.

CEI services include:

• • early analysis prior to the end of the compliance period to review how project operations compare to projections and advise on appropriate actions to facilitate the future repurchase
• • at year 15, preliminary analysis of buyback potential based on project operation, capital accounts, and tax issues
• • review of option/right of first refusal language in partnership documents
• • assistance with securing an appropriate appraisal
• • negotiation with investor to ensure best possible terms for nonprofit to repurchase property with no or minimal cash expenditures
• • analysis and advising to assist sponsors in maintaining cash revenues

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[expand title=”RESYNDICATION & PRESERVATION” id=”resyndications”]

Preservation of existing affordable housing is critical. Nonprofit developers often determine that a property could benefit from rehabilitation and financial restructuring to reposition properties and to ensure successful operations for the future. Sponsors may decide to combine two or more existing projects, particularly small properties in close proximity to each other and/or with similar financing, into one new financing structure for a more viable resyndication. CEI has wide range of experience preserving and resyndicating existing HUD Section 202 and 236 properties, special needs housing, rural USDA properties and many others.

CEI provides the following services:

• • feasibility analysis for individual projects, including evaluation of current rent structure and relationship between actual tenant incomes and rents
• • analysis of project’s existing debt and how it might be extended and/or restructured to maximize benefit of the resyndication
• • analysis of how much equity could be raised through the syndication of 4% and/or 9% tax credits
• • assistance with negotiations with funders about loan restructuring to maximize benefits to the project
• • full syndication services including assisting with investor identification, selection, negotiation, and structuring of the project to maximize long term goals of the sponsor and continued affordability for the low income tenants
• • portfolio analysis to help clients determine which properties are best for resyndication, and which groups of projects might be combined into one financing structure

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[expand title=”PUBLIC AGENCY ASSISTANCE” id=”publicagencyassistance”]

CEI advises public agencies on affordable housing development matters. Agency clients may be pursuing housing development themselves, evaluating proposals by other developers, or developing affordable housing policies or programs.

CEI services for public agencies include:

• • site evaluation
• • site acquisition strategies and negotiation
• • financial feasibility analysis, including potential for tax credit syndication
• • structuring of financing, development, syndication, ownership of project
• • evaluation of developer proposals, particularly focused on determining level of public benefits, to ensure maximum public benefit
• • negotiation with developers to maximize public benefit
• • creation or modification of affordable housing policies and programs

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