Jeffrey Sacks

Practice Areas

Jeff Sacks is a leading community development attorney. His clients include large community development corporations, senior housing providers and housing authorities as well as a variety of large institutional service providers. He often represents nonprofit organizations that are embarking on major real estate projects that allow their organizations to deliver their services in new and innovative ways.

Career

Career

Low-income housing tax credits and historic rehabilitation tax credits

I assist my clients in using federal low-income housing and historic tax credits to develop affordable housing and mixed-use developments. Given the multiple funding sources necessary to complete any project today including federal resources from HUD as well as state and local funds, I work with our developer clients to assure that all of these funders work together to allow for the successful completion of these projects with the most efficient deal structure.

New markets tax credits

Some of my largest and most complex projects have involved substantial investments in very poor communities utilizing the new markets tax credit program. These projects, which have included major new urban medical centers, a supercomputing project as well as smaller educational facilities, can be the catalyst for additional neighborhood investment and substantial job creation.

Public housing

I have worked with a range of public housing authorities in the transformation of some of the most outdated public housing projects in the Commonwealth into new and vital communities that continue to serve their low-income residents. I served as a public housing authority commissioner for more than twenty years, and in 2013 worked on new legislation in Massachusetts to modernize and reform the Commonwealth’s public housing system.

Nonprofit organizations

Much of my work involves advising nonprofit boards of directors about the most efficient and effective legal and financial approaches to fulfilling their corporate missions. A central part of my work is framing the legal options and documentation to boards of directors.

Community preservation

I served as the first chair of the Newton Community Preservation Committee and have worked with that program for more than ten years. This unique state and local partnership provides funding exclusively for community housing, open space preservation, historic preservation and recreation facilities in cities and towns across the Commonwealth.

Professional Memberships

Jeff Sacks served as a commissioner of the Newton Housing Authority from 1992 to 2014, and also served on Governor Deval Patrick’s Public Housing Reform Commission and on DHCD’s Public Housing Advisory Committee. Jeff serves as the Board Chair at 2Life Communities. He is also a member of the steering committee of the statewide Massachusetts Community Preservation Coalition.

Personal

Yale Law School, J.D.

Brown University, B.A.