Patrick R. Sabelhaus

Founder

Patrick R. Sabelhaus founded Sabelhaus & Strain PC in 1981 as Law Offices of Patrick R. Sabelhaus. Pat specialized in state and federal low-income housing tax credit law, tax-exempt bond financing and real property law. He procured the first low-income tax credit allocation in California in 1987 and from 1987 until his passing in 2023 served as the attorney of record to some 375 entities involved in the development of more than 18,000 low-income housing tax credit units in California, Nevada and New Mexico. 

Prior to starting his private law practice Pat served as Chief of the Community Affairs Division at the California Department of Housing and Community Development and before that as senior consultant to the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Consumer Affairs and Regulatory Functions at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs in Washington D.C. From 1967-76 Pat worked at the Office of Economic Opportunity and was the Director field operation for the Rural Housing Alliance. From 1964-67 he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Venezuela.

During his law career Pat founded the California Council for Affordable Housing and served as its Executive Director, Secretary and Legislative Liaison until his death. Mr. Sabelhaus received his J.D from Golden Gate University Law School and his B.A. in Business Administration from Marian College in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Sabelhaus & Strain PC remains dedicated to Pat’s mission of providing safe, clean, affordable housing for all through partnership between private developers, private financial institutions and our federal, state and local public agencies.