A home built as part of a partnership between the city of Clinton and Sampson Community College aims to provide city residents with affordable housing options — it’s on the way to doing that.

“We’re just now getting the finishing touches put on the house,” said city manager John Connet. “We’re hoping to have an open house in the next 30 days. We have no firm offers yet. We’re still trying to sell the house. ”

Connet said the house had been wired for electricity, and installation of plumbing, a heating and air system and floor coverings was also done, much of it through student labor. The students have only been able to work once a week during the summer to do some of the work, he said.

There has been some interest generated in the home, located at 115 W. Lee St. Applications have been available at City Hall since the beginning of July for anyone interested in purchasing the house and there have been several people ask about it.

“We’d love to sell it as quick as we can,” Connet said. “We’ve had a dozen inquiries, and three or four people have picked up applications and information packets about it. I’d love for a buyer to walk in today.”

Through a partnership entered into last November, deemed the Clinton Affordable Homeownership Program, SCC students would build a home that the city would then have to place and sell.

In April, City Council approved purchasing its first house as part of the agreement for $65,000. Just a couple weeks later, house was placed at the city-owned West Lee Street lot, where an unsafe home was previously demolished.

The house is 1,200 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. SCC placed a value of $52,855 on the house. The house and lot was professionally appraised at $85,000.

City officials said the cost can be recouped upon the sale of the house and the one-by-one build and sell process can begin again. Assuming the house is sold for the appraised amount of $85,000, that leaves a project income of $20,000, barring related fees or sales commissions.

Connet said it is hoped the houses would be sold for slightly more money than was invested, so the program could prove self-sustaining.

“As we sell one house, we plan to purchase another vacant lot with those proceeds in order to place another house from the community college,” said Connet. “The ultimate goal is to continue providing safe, affordable homes for low to moderate-income families.”

Over the last several years, the city has sought to remove nuisance homes and residences posing safety hazards through condemnation and demolition. Numerous homes have been razed, but the removal of blight in recent years has yielded a double-edged result. While dilapidated homes have been torn down, the holes left behind have not been filled at a similar rate.

“The results of these actions have contributed to safer and more attractive neighborhoods,” assistant city manager Shawn Purvis has said, “but have also produced vacant lots and diminished the city’s affordable housing stock.”

The Clinton Affordable Homeownership Program seeks to fill that void, while providing a feasible housing option to local residents.

“I think (SCC is) actually building another house now,” Connet said. “Once we sell the house, we’ll determine if we have another lot to use. The goal is to provide affordable, safe housing where we’ve had to take substandard houses out and bring ownership into areas where there are a lot of rental properties. We’ve started in District 5, but as time goes by, it will spread throughout the city.”