The Tuscany Village gated community project, stalled in construction for two years since being approved by the Ceres Planning Commission in May 2006, should finally be completed within eight months thanks to the bank’s decision to work in partnership with the Stanislaus County Regional Housing Authority and A&M Affordable housing developer.

The 40-home project was stalled over financial issues and foreclosed upon by the financing institution.

The deal involves half of the homes being made available as affordable housing and offered at prices deemed attainable for qualifying Ceres residents. Several of the 20 homes will be set aside for low-income families.

“We just want to take be able to take this project and bring it to fruition,” said Amin Vohra, CEO of Affordable Housing Organization, a Modesto based non-profit.

Tuscany Village has been plagued with problems from the outset. The project was first approved in 2006 with an accompanying commercial strip in front which was finished over a decade ago. The mortgage crisis of 2008 and the COVID pandemic of 2020 and 2021 caused delays in the start of construction until 2022 but didn’t get far. Some of the homes were near completion while some weren’t fully roofed when rising inflation and interest rates forced a halt to building. In recent years, the dormant site, tucked behind a small commercial strip mall largely out of view of Whitmore Avenue traffic, became a magnet for homeless persons, trash, vandalism and criminal activity.

Seventeen of the two-story houses – which range from 1,600 to 1,700 square feet – are 70 percent complete, said Vohra.

“They’re not your starter homes, per se,” said Vohra. “These are like your median house price which is within the FHA guidelines for the first-time homebuyer kind of thing.”

Jim Kruze said the Housing Authority has committed to buy 20 of the 40 homes and make them available to mostly first-time buyers at about $450,000.

Kruze said the Housing Authority will be partnering with Patrick Howard of Trio Finance.

“Their goal is to take people who are looking to get into their first home and figure out how they can work with that,” said Kruze.

“We provide a more or less an alternative financing program for people who can’t qualify necessarily for traditional mortgage financing,” said Howard. “We’re going to be working with local lenders offering traditional finance as well as our Trio Finance.”

Examples of those who might have trouble securing traditional mortgage financing are self-employed persons, foreign nationals and persons who are credit impaired from divorces and other situations.

“We’re here to help facilitate the success of this sales program for the Housing agency,” said Howard.

Kruze said making the homes “affordable” does not mean it’s a low-income project. He said the homes would be ideal for those who live on salaries of teachers, public safety personnel, the self-employed and business owners and others with blue collar jobs.

“That term ‘affordable’ is an oxymoron to me in these times because the median in the state has gone up to 140 percent of your AMI (area median income),” said Kruze. “We’re looking maybe between 85 and 120, probably somewhere within that range, people who probably couldn’t otherwise get in on their own.”

Although the project was approved to have a community pool and clubhouse, those amenities will not be built in order to keep down the cost of monthly Home Owners Association dues. HOA dues, which will be about $45-$50 per month, will finance street improvements and security gate.

Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra said the project will be able to help 40 families realize their dream of finding affordable housing.

 Vohra said the lack of availability of homes that working families can afford is a “dire crisis.” He detailed how he is striking out to see if he can develop more affordable housing in Ceres.

“Our median income in our county is close to $78,000. Now these are the majority of our folks who live in our county and currently they’re priced out completely because based on the debt-to-income ratio these folks can only afford to buy a house that is close to $267,000 or perhaps less,” said Vohra.

Affordable Housing Organization is working with the city to find cheaper land on which 200 3 bedroom/2 bath homes of 1,300 square feet can be built and sold for $275,000.

“We want to bring this change to our county and support those hard-working families – which is the majority of our population – to be able to at least make their home ownership dream a reality,” Vohra told a small crowd of officials at Tuscany Village on Monday. If the project become a reality Vohra said it will be a “game changer” that will “put our county on the map … and then we can replicate the same model into different towns and different cities in our region.”

The land for such a project could come out of the West Landing area of southwest Ceres or the Whitmore Ranch subdivision, which appears to have been abandoned, said city of Ceres Community Development Director Lea Simvoulakis.

Mayor Lopez said he and the City Council remains committed to a goal of expanding affordable housing opportunities in Ceres, including mixed use development.

“This collaboration is a powerful example of we can achieve when we work together,” said the mayor. “By completing this project we’re not only giving families a chance to own homes, we are also bringing hope and sustainability to our community.”