Council awards gap funding to Fairview Terrace, de‑obligates stalled Sierra Vista funds

The Stockton City Council on March 31 de‑obligated $1,614,000 from a 2019 allocation for Sierra Vista Phase 3 and approved a $2,800,000 loan to Mutual Housing / Fairview Terrace to cover a gap created by lower-than-expected tax-credit pricing and construction-market changes.

Economic Development Director Tina McCarty explained the NOFA process, scoring by internal raters and an independent underwriting consultant, and an AI‑assisted ranking that staff used to confirm human scoring. The NOFA drew eight proposals; staff recommended either/or funding of two top Visionary Home Builders proposals (one $5 million slot to the project that completes a full funding stack first), gap funding for Fairview Terrace, and $4.179 million for a senior project at Danny Drive from Delta Community Development Corporation.

"Fairview Terrace has a complete funding stack in place and has a tax‑credit deadline next month; without supplemental gap funding they cannot close," McCarty said. Mutual Housing's representative confirmed the project is moving quickly and has planning approvals; staff said the additional $2.8 million is needed to reach full closing.

Council voted to approve the Fairview allocation immediately (to avoid losing the opportunity) and to de‑obligate the Sierra Vista funds that have sat unused. Vice Mayor Lee and several council members praised the NOFA process and the addition of technical underwriters; Council Member Enriquez and others urged staff to return with presentations from all applicants for council consideration before awarding the remaining funds.

The council also asked staff to return with full presentations by all NOFA applicants so members could hear readiness timelines and funding stacks before deciding whether to allocate the remaining funds to projects recommended by staff.