HUD Program Updates
Satinder "Lucky" Bhardwaj
Manager
Novogradac & Company LLP
Satinder L. Bhardwaj is a manager in the Walnut Creek, Calif., office of Novogradac & Company LLP. He joined Novogradac & Company LLP in January 2007 and provides tax, attestation and consulting services to numerous organizations, including nonprofit organizations, real estate developers and real estate partnerships. Mr. Bhardwaj has extensive experience serving clients with low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) developments, including those subject to the auditing requirements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Mr. Bhardwaj has been the manager in charge of the Housing Authority of the County of Monterey audit for fiscal years 2011-2014. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administrations with a concentration in accounting from the California Polytechnic State University in Pomona.
Eric Novak
President
Praxis Consulting Group LLC
Eric Novak is president of Praxis Consulting Group, which was formed in 2004 to help nonprofit, for-profit and government organizations develop and finance affordable housing. Praxis also provides technical assistance to public housing authorities in the West in the areas of strategic planning, portfolio assessment, mixed-finance and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and Choice Neighborhoods Initiative applications and implementation. Mr. Novak has more than 30 years of experience in affordable housing policy, development and finance. Since 2005, Praxis has secured the financing for more than 40 affordable housing developments, primarily in Nevada, totaling more than 3,000 units and $450 million in financing. In 2013, Praxis closed the first FHA-insured RAD public housing transaction in the country, Landsman Gardens, for the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority. Praxis is finance consultant to the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso on its RAD Tranche 1 transaction, the largest RAD portfolio closing in the country, comprising almost 1,600 units across 14 properties. Mr. Novak has a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a concentration in real estate finance and housing and human service policy.
Monica Sussman
Partner
Nixon Peabody LLP
Monica Sussman is a former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) executive with nearly 30 years of experience in real estate, Section 8, FHA Multifamily programs and affordable housing law. Her practice focuses on all types of real estate transactions, and housing and community development law. Before joining Nixon Peabody LLP, Ms. Sussman held the position of deputy general counsel at HUD, where she oversaw the Office of Insured Housing, the Office of Legislation and Regulations and the Office of Finance and Regulatory Programs. Before her HUD appointment, Ms. Sussman practiced law with several Washington, D.C., law firms, where worked extensively on transactional real estate and corporate matters, representing numerous lenders, owners and property managers. Ms. Sussman began her career at the New York office of federal affairs, as a legislative counsel with the Governor’s Washington office, where she concentrated on housing issues. Ms. Sussman is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Virginia. Ms. Sussman earned her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and her juris doctor from Hofstra University School of Law.
Ted Toon
Director
U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development
Ted Toon is the director of FHA Multifamily Development, with responsibility for oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) multifamily mortgage insurance platform, including policy and procedures. Before that, Mr. Toon was director of HUD’s Office of Affordable Housing Preservation, focused on the preservation, recapitalization, and sustainability of the multifamily portfolio; Programs under his direction included the Mark-to-Market program, the Green Retrofit Program (a $250 million Recovery Act program), and the restructuring and workouts in the FHA-insured multifamily mortgage portfolio. Before joining HUD in February 2001, Mr. Toon was vice president of ACG Professionals, an Atlanta-based consulting firm specializing in financial analysis, due diligence and underwriting services to the commercial real estate industry. He holds undergraduate degrees in environmental design and business from the University of Colorado, Boulder and earned a master’s of real estate from MIT. Mr. Toon is also accredited through the U.S. Green Building Council as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) AP (Accredited Professional) in building design and construction.
Paul J. Weissman
Senior Managing Director
Hunt Mortgage Group
Paul J. Weissman is senior managing director and head of originations for affordable housing finance at Hunt Mortgage Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hunt Companies. Mr. Weissman has nearly 20 years of experience in multifamily housing. His experience includes development, tax credit syndication, lending and investment banking. He has financed more than $1 billion of affordable and market-rate multifamily transactions over the course of his career, including transactions involving nearly every form of assistance available to affordable housing developments. Mr. Weissman has experience with tax-exempt bond financing, Section 8 subsidies, Section 202 and Section 236 subsidies, low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs), HOPE VI, the FHA tax credit pilot program and many others on affordable communities, stretching from Connecticut to Hawaii. Before joining Hunt Mortgage Group, Mr. Weissman was a senior vice president at Dougherty & Company, a director with Credit-Suisse and a vice president at Newman Capital, where he was responsible for the purchase of unrated tax-exempt bonds in highly structured transactions to facilitate the new construction as well as acquisition and rehabilitation of LIHTC properties. Mr. Weissman began his career in affordable housing as associate general counsel for Simpson Housing Limited Partnership. Mr. Weissman holds a master’s degree from the Leeds School of Business and a juris doctor from the University Of Colorado School Of Law.