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Affordable & tax-credit housing

Ground lease capital for affordable housing.

Affordable deals hit capital moments a loan can’t always reach: the Year-15 investor buyout, exit taxes, a deferred developer fee, a resyndication gap, preservation. The land under the property can fund that moment — without selling, without a new loan, and without touching the credits. You keep the property, the income, and the mission.

Land is never in eligible basis — so monetizing it costs the deal zero tax credits.
$0
Credits lost by selling the land
·
3–4×
Ground rent covered by restricted income
·
100%
Of the property & upside you keep
Tax-credit deals never get credit for the dirt — eligible basis is the building, not the land. That makes the land the one piece of an affordable deal you can turn into cash without giving anything up: no credits, no units, no control, no affordability.
When it fits

The moments a ground lease funds.

Year 15

The investor buyout

The compliance period ends, the investor wants out, and the buyout plus exit taxes plus the deferred fee is a lump sum no restricted-rent refinance quite reaches. The land funds the whole event — you end up owning 100% of the deal, with your fee paid in cash and your borrowing capacity untouched.

Resyndication

The acquisition-rehab gap

New bond deal, new credits, existing building — and a sources-and-uses gap that soft money won’t close. Ground-lease proceeds fill the gap as permanent, non-amortizing capital, and because the credit follows the building’s basis, the land sale doesn’t cost the new deal a dollar of credits.

Preservation

Stay affordable, get paid

Approaching the end of restrictions with a building worth keeping affordable? Monetize the land, fund the rehab and the recapitalization, and keep operating under your use agreements. The lease is drafted to sit underneath them — affordability survives the transaction.

Built for this asset class

A lease written for affordable housing, not adapted to it.

Questions, answered

Affordable housing ground leases — FAQ.

Does selling the land reduce our tax credits?

No. Eligible basis is built on the depreciable building, not the land — land is never in eligible basis on a tax-credit deal. Selling the land and leasing it back leaves the credit calculation untouched, on new construction and on the acquisition basis in a rehab alike.

Does the property stay affordable?

Yes. The ground lease is drafted to sit under your existing restrictions — extended-use agreements, regulatory agreements, HAP contracts. Affordability runs with the property, and the lease is built to coexist with it for its full term.

Can we still get agency debt on the leasehold?

Yes — the lease is drafted to agency ground-lease standards: fixed ascertainable rent, no market resets, full mortgagee protections, and no restrictions on who may lend. If your property carries HUD-insured debt today, timing matters — talk to us before you commit to a refinance.

How is this different from selling to a preservation buyer or aggregator?

Selling means losing the property, the fees, and the future. A ground lease funds you to keep all three: the investor is bought out, the deferred fee is paid, the rehab is funded, and you still own and operate the deal. If someone is pressuring your investor's position, land proceeds can fund the buyout that ends it.

What does the ground rent cost?

Rent is sized off the property's stabilized income — typically covered three to four times over by NOI — with fixed annual escalations and no balloon, no amortization, and no personal guarantee. Send the property and we'll show you the exact math for your deal.

Send us the property

See what your land can fund.

Approaching Year 15, planning a resyndication, weighing preservation against a sale, or carrying a deferred fee you’d like paid — send the property name, unit count, and anything you have on income. We return an indicative read fast, as principal or arranged capital, and we work the sizes the institutional platforms pass on.

Email us the deal