Hogan Lovells helps Hawaiʻi tenants keep affordable housing

Last year, the Alaska superior court cited the Hawaiʻi case in Creekside LP v. Alaska Housing Finance Corp., which involved a project developer that used state-allocated federal tax credits for a low-income housing project suing the state housing authority. The developer sought to eliminate a contractual obligation to maintain the project as low-income housing for 15 years beyond the initial 15-year qualifying period.

The superior court granted summary judgment in favor of the housing authority, and the developer appealed several aspects of the court’s ruling. The Alaska Supreme Court concluded the superior court correctly determined there were no material disputed facts about how the parties formed the agreements.

However, in the Hawaiʻi litigation, given the lack of precedent, Lambert noted that “it was almost just a question of pure statutory interpretation and trying to define Congress’ intent and how it relates to these individual projects and what the developer agrees to on an individual basis.”

Lambert received assistance on the case from Hogan Lovells partner Cate Stetson, associate Cory Wroblewski, paralegal Heather Briggs and others. The tenants were also represented by Victor Geminiani, Ray Kong of the Honolulu nonprofit Lawyers for Equal Justice and Maui attorney Lance D. Collins.

“This case is an important reminder about the dire need for affordable housing in Hawaiʻi,” Kong said in a statement. “We need to ensure that projects like Front Street remain affordable, not only through the promised dates, but we need to think ahead about how to keep these units affordable when the restrictions expire. We need to plan ahead and take action now.”