Working at Klein Hornig allows me to solve complex legal challenges for clients who share the same mission that I do: building more safe and affordable homes. I strive to set up every project for success knowing that it represents another step towards solving the housing shortage.

Claudia Wack represents nonprofit, for-profit, and public sector developers in navigating the affordable housing lifecycle. She has worked on Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects in every corner of the country and has extensive practice experience in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Since joining Klein Hornig in 2021, Claudia has earned a reputation among clients and colleagues alike for a level of clarity, organization, and responsiveness that enables her to drive projects to a successful closing. She regularly works on transactions that incorporate mixed-use components, complex condominium structures, and layered financing tools such as state tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, FHA-insured loans, Section 8 rental subsidies, and other private debt and state and local funding sources.

Claudia also leverages her background in fair housing to advise clients on how to comply with state and federal civil rights laws in designing residential projects for special populations; establishing leasing and occupancy rules; and, for state and local governments, adopting laws and policies that affirmatively further fair housing. Claudia is particularly adept at advising clients on achieving compliance while balancing the practical, day-to-day considerations of property management and local governance.

Prior to joining Klein Hornig, Claudia clerked for the Honorable Bruce M. Selya on the First Circuit Court of Appeals and served in Rhode Island state government as a housing policy advisor. She has authored multiple pieces of housing production legislation that were signed into law.

  • Represents multiple developers leveraging complex condominium structuring to rehabilitate and construct mixed-use projects combining 4% LIHTC, 9% LIHTC, commercial space, and community service facilities.
  • Represents the private developer partner of a public housing authority conducting a multi-phase transformation of a public housing community using Choice Neighborhood Initiative (CNI) funds.
  • Represented a community development corporation in connection with the rehabilitation of eight scattered-site properties and the conversion of vacant office space for residential use.
  • Assisted a public housing authority to reposition dilapidated public housing units for rehabilitation through a blend of Rental Assistance Demonstration (“RAD”) and Section 18 program vouchers.
  • Advised a client on state regulations concerning the use of criminal background checks in tenant screening and admissions.
  • Revised property management forms and policies to align with Fair Housing Act and Americans with Disabilities Act requirements concerning service animals, reasonable accommodations, and reasonable modifications.
  • Advised municipal planners on implementing state land use reforms housing production in a way that affirmatively furthers fair housing.

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Gaia Cloutier

Legal Assistant
617.224.0638

Professional Affiliations

  • ABA Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development, Member
  • Rhode Island Bar Association, Member
  • Massachusetts Bar Association, Member
  • American Bar Association, Member

Community Affiliations

  • Neighbors Welcome! Rhode Island, Co-Director

Recognition

  • Hillary Rodham Clinton Public Interest Fellow
  • Solomon Fellow for Health Law and Policy
  • George Stebbins Moses Alumni Fellowship
  • Women’s and Gender Studies Senior Thesis Prize

Events

  • Moderator, "How Government Can Help," Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) Housing Forum - May 2025

 

  • Yale Law School, J.D.
  • University of Oxford, M.St., Women's Studies
  • Amherst College, B.A., Religion, Women’s and Gender Studies, summa cum laude

Admissions

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts
  • Rhode Island

I enjoy cycling, knitting, and walking my retired greyhound (when she is not napping). I am an avid reader and have tracked every book that I have read since 2013.

In my free time, I also volunteer as one of the directors for Neighbors Welcome! Rhode Island, a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to promoting abundant housing in the Ocean State through thoughtful housing production reforms.