Gita Sankano on LIHTC Closings and Layered Financing

Gita Sankano spent five years coordinating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily closings before moving into government work advising on affordable housing policy. She was the first in her family to attend college and clerked for the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland before entering private practice.

Affordable housing finance deals close or fail on details most people never see. The lawyer coordinating a Low Income Housing Tax Credit transaction is managing state soft debt, tax-exempt bonds, FHA insurance programs, and sometimes mezzanine financing, all layered into one closing. Miss a covenant or a subordination agreement and the deal unwinds. Gita Sankano has been in that room, first at a large firm representing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lenders, now an affordable housing lawyer in DC. She advises on transactions, reviews legal documents, and helps shape policy for programs designed to keep housing accessible.

Gita Sankano is an attorney specializing in affordable housing finance and real estate law. She works with complex transactions involving multifamily housing projects, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and tax-exempt bonds. Born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx, she was the first in her family to attend college. She graduated cum laude from the University of Maryland School of Law and clerked for the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland before entering private practice.

How did you get into affordable housing finance law?

I started as an auditor at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wall Street while I was finishing graduate school. That gave me exposure to how large institutions handle compliance and documentation. When I went to law school, I clerked for the Honorable Michael W. Reed at the Court of Special Appeals in Maryland, which taught me how to read contracts and statutes closely. After that, I joined a large firm where I counseled mortgage banking clients in the origination, sale, and servicing of loan transactions sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I coordinated closings for multifamily housing projects and health care facilities across the U.S., working with FHA insurance programs like Sections 220, 221(d)(4), 223(a)(7), 223(f), 232, and 241(a). Those deals often involved Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Tax Credits, taxable and tax-exempt bonds, secondary financing from state and local sources, and mezzanine financing. The complexity of those structures is what drew me in. Now I work on the other side, representing a D.C. government agency in affordable housing finance transactions.

What do you notice first in a layered financing structure that tells you whether the deal will close smoothly?

The subordination agreements. In a deal with tax credits, bonds, and soft debt from state or local sources, you have multiple lenders with different priorities. If the subordination language is vague or the waterfall provisions do not align with what each lender expects, you will spend weeks negotiating terms that should have been settled before the transaction got to closing. I look at those agreements early. If they are clear and the lenders have already agreed on their positions, the rest of the closing tends to follow. If they are not, you know you are in for renegotiation.

What looks like a problem in a LIHTC deal but usually is not?

Bridge loans. A lot of people see bridge financing and assume it complicates the capital stack, but bridge loans are a tool. They let a project move forward while the permanent financing is being finalized or while the tax credit equity is being syndicated. The problem is not the bridge loan itself. The problem is when the bridge lender has not agreed on their exit terms or when the permanent lender has not committed to taking them out. If those pieces are in place, the bridge loan is just another layer in the structure and it works.

What do people consistently get wrong about your work?

They think affordable housing finance is simple because it is mission-driven. The legal work is as complex as any commercial real estate transaction. You are coordinating federal programs, state programs, local programs, tax credit investors, bond counsel, and sometimes historic preservation requirements, all in one deal. The regulatory frameworks do not always align. A covenant that satisfies FHA might conflict with a LIHTC requirement or a local affordability restriction. You have to know all of those frameworks and how they interact. The mission matters, but the technical work is what gets the housing built.

They think affordable housing finance is simple because it is mission-driven. The legal work is as complex as any commercial real estate transaction.

What skill in affordable housing law cannot be taught in a classroom?

Reading the room. In a closing, you have developers, lenders, equity investors, government agencies, and sometimes community organizations, all with different goals. The developer wants to close fast. The lender wants every condition met. The equity investor wants the tax credit allocation locked in. The government agency wants the affordability restrictions enforced for the full compliance period. You have to know when to push and when to let a negotiation pause so people can regroup. That only comes from being in the room and watching how experienced lawyers handle tension. Law school teaches you the statutes and the cases. It does not teach you how to close a deal when five parties are at odds.

What did you believe early in your career that you no longer believe?

I believed that if you worked hard and knew the law, the rest would take care of itself. That is not enough. You also have to build relationships, ask for guidance, and learn how to communicate what you know in a way that clients and colleagues can use. Being the first in my family to attend college was an obstacle. I did not have anyone to tell me how law firms worked or how to navigate a clerkship or how to ask for the right kind of mentorship. I found mentors, but I had to seek them out. I wish I had understood earlier that building a career is not just about competence. It is also about connection and being willing to say you do not know something.

What is a mistake worth letting a junior lawyer make?

Drafting a subordination agreement without running it by the senior lender first. It is a mistake, but it is one that teaches you how subordination actually works. You can explain the mechanics in a training session, but until someone writes an agreement that gets rejected because the waterfall does not match the lender’s credit approval, they do not fully understand it. The revision process is where the learning happens. As long as there is time to fix it before closing, that mistake is worth making once.

Has the rise of tax-exempt bond financing changed how LIHTC deals get structured?

Yes. Tax-exempt bonds are often paired with 4 percent LIHTCs, which do not require competitive allocation from the state. That makes the financing more predictable. But the bond documents add another layer of covenants and ongoing compliance requirements. You have bond counsel, a trustee, and sometimes a remarketing agent involved in the deal. The legal work does not get simpler. It just shifts. You are managing bond indentures and continuing disclosure obligations on top of the tax credit compliance. The advantage is that the financing is more stable once it is in place. The trade-off is that the initial structuring takes longer.

The legal work does not get simpler. It just shifts. You are managing bond indentures and continuing disclosure obligations on top of the tax credit compliance.

What is overrated in real estate finance right now?

The idea that technology will replace the need for lawyers in closings. Technology can streamline document management and automate some compliance tracking, but it cannot negotiate a subordination dispute or advise a client on whether a Section 8 contract can be assumed in a sale. Real estate finance is still driven by relationships and judgment. The tools help, but they do not replace the lawyer who knows the law and knows how to close a deal when the terms do not fit a template.

Can AI handle affordable housing compliance tracking?

It can help track deadlines and flag missing documents, but it cannot interpret whether a project is meeting its affordability covenants when the lease structure is nonstandard or when there is a question about income recertification. Compliance is not just checking boxes. It is understanding the regulations and applying them to specific facts. AI can support that process, but it cannot do the analysis. A lawyer still has to review the lease, confirm the income limits, and advise on what happens if a tenant’s income changes mid-year. That requires legal judgment.

What actually improved your practice in the last five years?

Moving from private practice to government work. At the firm, I represented lenders. Now I represent the agency funding the deals. That shift gave me a different view of how affordable housing projects get financed and what the government side needs to see in order to approve funding. I understand both sides of the transaction now, and that makes me a better lawyer. I know what the lenders will ask for and I know what the agency can agree to. That perspective only came from switching roles.

If someone is starting out as a first-generation lawyer today, what should they do first?

Find mentors early. I did not know how law firms worked or what a clerkship was supposed to teach me or how to ask for the kind of assignments that lead to real responsibility. I had to figure that out on my own. If you are the first in your family to go to college or law school, find someone who has been through it and ask them how things work. That could be a professor, a supervisor, or someone at a bar association. The Alliance of Black Women Attorneys and the Maryland State Bar Association both gave me communities where I could ask questions and learn from people who understood what I was navigating. Do not wait until you are stuck to reach out. Ask early and often.

What will still be true about affordable housing law in ten years?

The regulatory frameworks will still be layered and they will still require lawyers who understand both federal and state programs. The tools might change and the financing structures might evolve, but the fundamental work will be the same. You will still need someone who can read a HUD regulation, a state housing finance agency allocation plan, and a local affordability ordinance, and tell you how they fit together. That skill is not going away. Affordable housing finance is technical work, and it always will be.

Affordable housing finance is technical work, and it always will be.

What does success mean to you now?

The definition of success is subjective. However, for me, it’s giving back to my community and pouring in whatever knowledge I have to the youth. My mother has been my biggest influence. She is a hard working woman who never gives up and keeps going forward. That shaped how I think about my career. Success is not just about the deals I close or the title I hold. It is about whether I am helping the next generation navigate the path I had to figure out on my own. If I can make that path clearer for someone else, that is success.

Based on a profile questionnaire completed by Gita Sankano.