A major part of our work has been helping our clients develop and implement long-term overall financial strategies and programs. We see this not as a minor adjunct to our work on transactions but as an important and complementary part of our business.

Examples of our strategic consulting work include:

Asset management strategies, for public agencies and non-profit development corporations, for achieving better returns — and avoiding losses — on portfolios of loans, investments, buildings and land.

Institutional strategies, as an agency seeks to redirect its efforts in a new environment. This has included housing authorities wanting to become less dependent on HUD programs, redevelopment agencies dealing with major economic changes, state housing finance agencies working with new public and private partners and trying to better protect and utilize their reserves.

Land development strategies, as public agencies and major landowners try to find ways to efficiently develop and finance key infrastructure improvements — that may require cooperation of other landowners and public entities.

Neighborhood strategies, to revitalize an older neighborhood, to improve property management where properties are owned by multiple owners, or to achieve or maintain a balance of income groups over a long-term horizon.

Internal financial strategies, as an agency seeks to improve its balance sheet and deal with the many commitments it may have made. Examples include a redevelopment agency which had pledged limited resources to multiple projects, a city where more than 15 redevelopment, infrastructure and other bond issues faced significant financial trouble, and a state housing finance agency with a very low net worth facing potential bond defaults. In each of these cases we have helped design a strategy to effectively strengthen the agency's financial position.