American Canyon Middle School science teacher Anna Niklewicz always wanted to own a house and live close enough to her school to be able to ride a bicycle to work.

Yet for years she continued to rent in Napa and commute to American Canyon, priced out of the housing market.

After all, the median price for a single family house in American Canyon was $591,000 in December, according to a market analysis.

Recently, however, Niklewicz, a single mother of two, became one of 15 new homeowners at Vineyard Place, a new subdivision primarily for families with low and moderate incomes.

“I’m ready,” said a beaming Niklewicz, who will pay a mortgage of $1,550 a month for her new, 1,300-square-foot, three-bedroom yellow house.

 Niklewicz’s home is one of 45 houses Mid-Peninsula Housing Coalition built on 3.5 acres the city received from developer Standard Pacific to build affordable housing.

Mid-Peninsula Housing Inc., which will repay the city close to $2 million for the land, said it will sell 36 houses at below market rates.

The nonprofit organization based in Foster City is also building a 147-unit apartment complex for low- and moderate-income residents on an adjacent 7-plus acres.

To be eligible to buy a two- or three-bedroom house from $293,000 to $368,000 at Vineyard Place, according to a formula set by state housing officials, a family of four must earn no more than $60,000 to $90,000.

Preference at Vineyard Place was given to people who either live or work in American Canyon, de Leon said.

Of the 36 houses set aside for the program, 15 have been sold, while the remaining 21 have been reserved, de Leon said. However, another three or four houses could still be available if applicants drop out, according to de Leon.

To keep prices down, the below-market-rate houses were built on smaller lots — 3,500-4,000 square feet instead of 6,000 square feet and up —  than those of other homes nearby.

Monthly mortgage payments at Vintage Ranch, including principal, interest, tax and insurance, range from $1,500 to $2,900, said de Leon.

On Friday, the new residents greeted American Canyon Mayor Leon Garcia, de Leon and others.

Arman Ladiao, who lived until recently in Vallejo, just moved in. Close relatives live nearby. A niece, who helped him with the paperwork when he applied for his new home, lives at Vintage Ranch. A sister lives in the LaVigne subdivision on the other side of West American Canyon Road.

“I’m so happy for him because it’s a good opportunity,” said Ladiao’s niece, Zsa-Zsa Estabillo.

Ladiao and his new neighbor, Romeo Alejandrino, as it turns out, already knew one another.

“It’s truly an American dream,” said Alejandrino, who was Ladiao’s supervisor when both worked at a Novato computer memory chip company a decade ago.

Niklewicz, whose journey to home ownership began last year when she saw a flier advertising a new subdivision open to first-time home-buyers with low and moderate incomes, can’t wait to move in.

“I’m going to ride my bike to work,” she said before greeting Garcia during a tour of the new subdivision.