Amy M. McClain represents housing authorities and affordable housing developers in the context of mixed-finance transactions. She is the Chair of the firm's Real Estate Department.
Amy is based in Baltimore and is a lawyer who closes affordable housing transactions involving a variety of funding sources, including Low Income Housing Tax Credits, the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, public housing and Section 8 funding sources, HUD-insured loans, tax-exempt bonds, state housing finance agency loan funds, and conventional financing.
These transactions have provided her with the opportunity to negotiate issues among the financing parties, housing authorities, and developers while also coordinating various U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development review and approval processes. Amy also addresses traditional real estate issues intertwined with affordable housing development.
Experience
Representative Matters
- Represents a national affordable housing developer in its projects in various states, including the redevelopment of former public housing and other HUD-financed properties involving low-income housing tax credit equity, state and local financing resources, and operating subsidies
- Represented the Housing Authorities of Fresno on various transactions, including four of the country's first Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversions
- Represents the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) in relation to its comprehensive revitalization of 60,000 public housing units, including assisting NYCHA with closing the first RAD/PACT conversions of more than over 7,100 units; previously assisted NYCHA with the acquisition/rehabilitation tax credit transaction closed under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act HUD programs and the current conversion of 1,395 public housing units under HUD's RAD program
- Represented the Puerto Rico Public Housing Administration in the nation's largest bond issuance and Low Income Housing Tax Credit acquisition/rehabilitation transaction, involving more than $700 million in funds for the modernization of more than 4,000 units within 33 public housing developments
- Represented the Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver in its acquisition/rehabilitation Low Income Housing Tax Credit transaction, which maximized the tax credit-eligible basis generated by Energy Performance Contract improvements to three high-rise public housing sites
Professional Highlights
Pro Bono Experience
- Representing the Govans Ecumenical Development Corporation and its affiliate, Stadium Place, Inc., in the development of Stadium Place and in connection with ongoing charitable and organizational matters
- Coordinate the pro bono collaboration between attorneys and paralegals with Ballard Spahr's Baltimore office and Project HEAL, a medical-legal partnership of the Kennedy Krieger Institute to provide pro bono legal services for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities
- Represented a teacher from Ethiopia seeking asylum in the United States from political persecution, and filed the petitions to successfully reunite the client with her family
- Represented a community organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty in connection with obtaining its 501(c)(3) designation
Professional Activities
Baltimore Affordable Housing Trust Fund Commission
American Bar Association, Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, Past Chair
Housing and Development Law Institute
Recognition & Accomplishments
Fellow, American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL), Class of 2022
The Best Lawyers in America, Real Estate Law, 2021-2025
Legal 500, Real Estate - Land Use/Zoning, 2023, 2024; Real Estate - Real Estate, 2022-2024; Real Estate - Real Estate Finance, 2023, 2024
Speaking Engagements
Speaker, "RAD Update," Novogradac 2019 Affordable Housing Conference, Miami Beach, FL, January 10, 2019
Speaker, "RAD Current Practice Issues," Novogradac 2018 RAD Public Housing Conference, Philadelphia, April 26, 2018
Instructor, "Preservation of Existing HUD Housing," Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, Cleveland, October 7, 2016
Board Memberships & Community Service
Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
Msgr. O'Dwyer Youth Retreat House, 2012-2017
Harbor Walk Townhouse Association, 2015-2017
Southeast Community Development Corporation, 2009-2016
Publications
Co-author, "Cross-Cutting Requirements: Federal-Wide Requirements Impacting HUD Programs," Navigating HUD Programs: A Practitioners' Guide to the Labyrinth, American Bar Association, 2024
Beginner’s Guide to Public Housing Conversion under RAD, published by the ABA's Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development, August 2014
Co-author, "Mixed-Finance Development of Public Housing," ABA's Legal Guide to Affordable Housing Development, 2011
"The Derailing of Maryland Property Law," 60Maryland Law Review1211, 2001
Credentials
Education
University of Maryland School of Law (J.D. 2002, with honors)
Student Lawyer, Community Transactions Clinic; Member, Order of the Coif; Associate Editor, Maryland Law Review
American University (B.A. 1993, magna cum laude)
Admissions
Maryland