IRVINE

Officials from Irvine and Tustin are optimistic that more than 1,200 vacant houses on the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station will be turned over to civilian control by the end of the year.

Tustin City Manager William A. Huston said he understands that the Defense Department may issue the two cities a written decision that would give the federal government’s blessing to a reuse plan for the base and officially transfer control to the cities by December. City officials say the homes are slated for “civilian occupancy” but won’t say whether they will be used for sorely needed low-income housing.

In a letter to the Irvine City Council, Huston wrote that the cities can select developers and begin refurbishing the homes in January if the Navy issues the decision and transfers documents by September.

The 1,571-acre installation features 1,257 units, which formerly housed personnel stationed at the base. More than 550 of the homes are in Irvine, where city officials characterize the need for low-income housing as dire.

Fourteen of the houses are scheduled to go to the nonprofit group Families Forward, which wants to use them for a career education center that will house homeless people who are trying to earn, or can’t afford to pay, their rent.