Practice Expertise

  • Public Finance
  • Housing
  • Banking & Financial Services
  • Tax Credits, Affordable Housing, & Economic ...

Areas of Practice

  • Banking & Financial Services
  • Housing
  • Public Finance
  • Tax Credits, Affordable Housing, & Economic ...
  • COVID-19 Business Strategies Hub
  • View More

Profile

Lewis concentrates his practice on affordable housing and traditional governmental finance. His practice is dedicated to the goal of ensuring good, safe, accessible, affordable housing for communities across the nation.

His clients include municipalities, state and local housing agencies, for-profit developers, non-profit housing organizations and investment banking firms. He works with all the diverse participants in housing transactions, including multi-family housing sponsors, developers, and underwriters. He represents governmental issuers (both as bond counsel and issuer counsel), LIHTC syndicators, developers (for-profit and non-profit), underwriters, banks, trustees, lenders and credit providers.

Multiple HUD, tax credit, bond and other program requirements often result in very complicated financial and legal structures; Lewis views these challenges as opportunities to build real partnerships among all the stakeholders in affordable housing transactions.

Recently, he acted as bond counsel in an innovative pooled finance, which leveraged $16 million of private equity and $28 million in multi-family private activity bonds to rehabilitate an RD portfolio consisting of 793 scattered units throughout Tennessee. Lewis served as bond counsel in connection with a $74 million development in Louisville, Kentucky which consisted of three facilities: a 240 unit multi-family housing facility, a 108 unit senior housing facility and a 64 unit scholar house facility for single parents seeking a university degree.  

In 2013, Lewis acted as developer’s counsel in an innovative transaction that will rebuild an affordable housing complex destroyed by a tornado in 2013, working with an array of local, state and federal officials, including the Kentucky Housing Corporation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Since 2002, Lewis has participated in over a billion dollars of affordable housing financings throughout the country, including deals involving HUD, RD, and RAD.

Prior to joining Dinsmore, Lewis was chief counsel at the Kentucky Housing Corporation.

Outside of the practice of law, Lewis has assumed a leadership role in several organizations. Lewis currently serves as an Independent Director of Board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, a federal chartered bank that provides liquidity to its members supporting housing finance and community investment.  Lewis also serves on the Board of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and the Board of the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission (NKCAC). He previously chaired the Board of Regents of Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) and the Board of the Northern Kentucky Area Development District.

While serving at EKU, Lewis led the Board of Regents in the selection of the University’s 14th President while also working to modernize and improve the University’s ability to provide an exceptional residential experience. As EKU’s Board Chair, Lewis worked closely with members of the Kentucky General Assembly to secure state funding for a new Airport Facility in Madison County, Kentucky to support EKU’s FAA approved aviation program, a new Model Laboratory to serve students from kindergarten through graduation. In that role, he also secured funding for the complete renovation of the Alumni Coliseum, in Richmond, Kentucky. Lewis was instrumental in helping NKCAC establish the Lincoln-Grant Scholar House in Covington, Kentucky, a residential rental facility that assists single parents enrolled in a degree seeking program.

A native of Cuba and a resident of South Florida through his teenage years, Lewis is fluent in Spanish.

Bar Admissions

    Kentucky

Education

  • Northern Kentucky University, Chase College of Law (J.D.)
  • Eastern Kentucky University (M.P.A.)
  • Eastern Kentucky University (B.A.)
    • Offensive Lineman of the Year (2000)

Areas of Practice

  • Banking & Financial Services
  • Housing
  • Public Finance
  • Tax Credits, Affordable Housing, & Economic Development
  • COVID-19 Business Strategies Hub

Professional Career

Significant Accomplishments
  • HUD Fellowship (2000 - 2002)


Professional Associations
  • National Association of Bond Lawyers
  • Kentucky Bar Association
  • Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati Board of Directors, (2022-Present)
  • Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, (2022-Present)
  • Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission Board of Directors, (2014-Present)
  • Eastern Kentucky University Board of Regents, (2016-2022)
  • Northern Kentucky Area Development District Board of Directors, (2008-2021)
  • Northern Kentucky Tri-Ed Board of Directors, (2021-2022)
  • Kentucky Affordable Housing Coalition, founding president



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