Doing Well to Do Good
In 2022, Casa Nueva Vida was facing financial distress and potential collapse, as well as the potential loss of its four emergency shelter properties in Boston and Lawrence, Massachusetts. Heading Home, the largest provider of emergency housing in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was asked by state officials to consider taking over stewardship of three active transitional housing and emergency shelters that were home to approximately 125 residents. Mintz, under the leadership of attorney Rebecca Lee, was asked to help Heading Home acquire the three occupied properties and an additional vacant property in a highly complex transaction that included a nonprofit organization slated to dissolve, the oversight of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, and related real estate and corporate complexities, including the transition of employees to Heading Home.
Listen as Pro Bono Committee Chair Susan Finegan sits down with Rebecca to discuss the story, the challenges, and the impact of the work that she and her team completed for Heading Home.
“Mintz has a culture of giving back to the community and being a good corporate citizen. When asked by one of our clients to consider taking on this endeavor, I realized that we had the capabilities, we could make the time, we had the resources, and this is exactly the kind of thing that Mintz does and can do well. The Commonwealth needed to preserve these pieces of real estate as affordable emergency housing because resources for the homeless in our Commonwealth are swamped, and the last thing we wanted to do was to have 125 people left homeless again if our efforts failed.”
Rebecca A. Lee
Member / Chair, Real Estate Development Practice
Pro Bono Team
Rebecca A. Lee
Member / Chair, Real Estate Development Practice