Law student drafts tax credit bill to spark redevelopment

By Jason Kornwitz

To help Boston-area neighborhoods out of the physical and economic disarray caused by housing foreclosures, Northeastern University School of Law student Paul McCann drafted a legislative proposal, titled the “Neighborhood Stabilization Tax Credit,” that provides impetus for developers and non-profit organizations to buy and redevelop foreclosed properties.

If passed, the law would provide a 25 percent tax credit over a 10-year period on the extra costs of renovating run-down, abandoned homes ravaged and stripped of many of their fixtures. The proposal, presented to Mayor Thomas Menino’s Intergovernmental Relations Department, might be included in Menino’s Legislative Package and State of the City Address in January.

McCann helped create the piece of legislation while working for Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development in its Policy Development and Research department. Specifically, McCann worked with Menino’s foreclosure intervention team developing new policy approaches toward combating the consequences of foreclosure.

“Neighborhoods are starving for help,” McCann said. “As a young policy student I hope to help make tangible changes and maximize my own utility by working on an issue that might otherwise not be tackled.”

McCann discovered the public service opportunity through the Rappaport Fellows Program at The Rappaport Center for Law and Public Service at Suffolk University Law School. He is one of 12 graduate students from each of the six local law schools, including Northeastern University School of Law, Suffolk University Law School, Boston College Law School, Boston University School of Law, Harvard Law School and the New England School of Law, to participate in the program which offers paid public-sector internships to emerging public policy leaders.

On a day-to-day basis, McCann tracked housing foreclosures and provided the information to prospective buyers such as the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), collected information on foreclosed property owners, learned first-hand how foreclosed property transactions take place and discussed the long-term effects of foreclosure laws.

McCann, who graduated from Harvard in 2006 with a degree in social studies, wrote his undergraduate thesis on community development in Boston. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his father worked for the BRA for 50 years.

“My father pushed me toward a career in public service, but whether or not I end up in public service, I’ll have to wait and see,” McCann said. “I grew up hearing stories at the kitchen table, and I thought it would be interesting to do similar work.”

McCann pointed to his courses in affordable housing, land use and real estate development at Northeastern’s School of Law as those that prepared him for drafting foreclosure legislation.

“Northeastern’s law professors focus on real life experiences and teach with practical applications in mind,” McCann said.

After he graduates in the spring of 2009, McCann hopes to pass the Massachusetts Bar Exam and find a job in the public sector, especially since a recently passed federal law has increased the budget for which city governments can deal with such issues.