The three state of North Carolina grant-funded houses on Keysville Road in Washington are close to completion and purchased.

In a meeting between the City of Washington, Reverend David Moore and N.C. Department of Commerce on Thursday, Moore said that three of the houses should be occupied by the end of August.

The house closest to completion will close and be occupied within two weeks, Moore has told city officials.

The low- to moderate-income housing project’s third house is scheduled to be completed by the end of August.

“If Reverend Moore is able to meet that schedule, that they (department of commerce) were so inclined to give us credit for those two homes this year,” said Brian Alligood, Washington’s city manager. “We wouldn’t have to pay back the $75,000 we owed them July 1.”

State officials have not sent notification to city officials about whether the grant repayment would be waived since the original project was not completed by July 1.

“They still have stuff they have to review, and it’s not final until we get a letter from them,” Alligood said. “They told us they would send us a letter detailing all of this.”

Originally, the entire project was supposed to be completed by July 1, 2016, with a total of five houses. Moore told city officials and the state, the two houses that aren’t started yet will be completed by the end of November.

“They (department of commerce) said, ‘that’s great, that’s even better, because we don’t want to continue drag this grant out another two years,’” Alligood said.

“In the end they don’t want to take the money back, they want to see go towards helping the people who need help with homeownership,” said Matt Rauschenbach, assistant city manager.

In all, Moore and Metropolitan Housing have helped build or rehabilitate 500 houses and have assisted low- to moderate-income residents get a loan to purchase a house.