San Francisco-based affordable housing developer Bridge Housing has added a legal veteran to its senior leadership team.
Lisa Laffer is taking on a dual role at the firm starting at the beginning of the year as chief operating officer and general counsel. She will lead efforts to strengthen its operations, lead its legal and compliance functions and support the firm’s next phase of growth across the West Coast, the company said in a statement.
“Lisa brings an extraordinary combination of legal expertise, operational expertise and deep commitment to our mission-driven work,” said Bridge Housing President and CEO Ken Lombard, adding that the appointment comes as the firm continues to "expand our impact and grow our portfolio.”
Laffer moves over from Los Angeles-based developer Regent Properties, where she served as principal, general counsel and chief compliance officer and oversaw the firm’s legal matters, acquisitions and sales, joint ventures, leasing, development, debt transactions, and property management.
Bridge Housing is a nonprofit developer that has created some 23,000 homes in California, Oregon and Washington since it launched in 1983. Its $4 billion portfolio comprises nearly 15,000 apartments that house more than 30,000 people, with more than 10,000 additional units in the pipeline along the West Coast, a region that includes some of the priciest housing markets in the United States.
The company has taken part in large public housing revitalizations such as a $1 billion redevelopment effort of Jordan Downs, a sprawling 1940s development that is one of the largest public housing complexes in Los Angeles.
Bridge Housing this year launched its first private equity fund for affordable housing. Bridge said it is on course to raise $350 million of equity, which it thinks will enable around $1 billion worth of investment potential to acquire and create affordable and workforce housing in urban areas.
The organization closed on a $175 million bond offering in October, the largest deal of its kind in Bridge’s history, a reflection of the enormous investor appetite for affordable housing across Western markets. Bridge said it planned to use the proceeds to expand its West Coast portfolio by 5,100 affordable housing units through next year.
Laffer’s previous work experience includes serving as general counsel for a Los Angeles-based real estate family office and practicing real estate and land use law at several prominent LA law firms. She attended Yale and the University of California Los Angeles law school and began her career clerking for Chief Judge David Alan Ezra in the U.S. District Court of Hawaii.