Part of abandoned Ceres development now set to be affordable housing

CERES — A housing complex under construction in Ceres is finding new life after the initial developer abandoned the project.

Half of the units are now going to become affordable homes for families in Stanislaus County.

Evelyn Cordrey lives in Ceres with her husband and they've seen the progress Tuscany Village had until the project came to a halt. What was supposed to be 40 single-family homes with a pool and community center only had half of them built.

"It's coming down to the funding. The bank pulled the loans. The developer wasn't able to retrieve the loans," Ceres City Councilmember Rosalinda Vierra said back in May.

Now, Vierra said that after the project was retrieved from bankruptcy court, the judge released it on one order: to turn some of the homes into affordable housing.

"The court decided to make the 20 homes already started into affordable housing," she said.

The homes could've gone for $550,000 to $600,000 but will now go for $450,000 for those who are Stanislaus County residents and meet the state threshold for affordable housing.

Vierra said she wants to keep the homes for as many locals as possible.

"[I think we] have an issue when it comes to attainable housing locally, and that comes from outside investors who have the money to spend half a million dollars and be competitive in the market, but for people working in the valley, it's hard to get into a home that's half a million dollars," she said.

With the project moving forward again, it gives Cordreys hope as they are looking to start a family soon.

"We want to stay in Ceres," she said.

The other 20 homes will be sold as usual homes on the market.