IRVINE

About 550 Irvine homes, including a number of spacious, three-bedroom spreads, are doing little more than gathering dust in an area where the need for affordable and government-subsidized housing is considered dire.

Officials from Irvine and Tustin are seeking to change that by renovating the 1,257 vacant houses on the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station for civilian use.

Both cities are in a holding pattern over the 1,571-acre installation as they wait for the U.S. Navy to decide whether the government would be willing to sell the houses.