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"People are working two to three jobs just to make ends meet – we need to bring in jobs that are paying people to want to come here and stay here," Denitra Moffett, Democratic nominee for Lycoming County commissioner, said.
"There is this Catch-22 of, we want good jobs but we need good houses for these people – they're not going to come and take good jobs if they don't have anywhere to live," said Mark Mussina, fellow Democratic nominee.
"Tax relief is what's going to bring business in," Marc Sortman, Republican nominee for commissioner said.
"The commissioners' role in job creation is infrastructure," Scott Metzger, Republican nominee, said.
The four nominees for Lycoming County commissioner had a variety of ideas for how the county could address job creation.
Metzger noted that the commissioners have allocated $7 million to improve water and sewer systems, saying Jersey Shore, for instance, was using a system more than 100 years old.
"If they have a house fire up there, the water pressure at the hospital goes down," he said.
He said improvements to infrastructure make Lycoming County more attractive to industries and businesses.
"Housing is a critical problem, not just nationwide, but in Lycoming County," Metzger said.
Metzger said when the commissioners were deciding how to spend federal "rescue plan" money, they met with a wide variety of entities and sectors -- including developers and real estate professionals. Developers told the commissioners, Metzger explained, that available housing had fallen to about a fifth of the number of houses that were on the market at any given time before the shortage became a problem.
"It's important that we have attainable houses," he said. "We have people relocating to this community ... they're moving into Union County, they're moving into Clinton County to find houses."
Metzger noted commissioners already have committed $4 million to improving housing through infrastructure expansion.
"Any developer who wants to apply for those monies would apply through Planning," he said. "Right now we're looking at three different projects, about 185 homes."
Sortman noted his track record as Loyalsock Township supervisor, where tax cuts brought in more businesses when advocating that tax reduction will bring both jobs and more housing into Lycoming County.
"It's just a proven fact," he said. "We have to do that countywide."
"If our county's taxes are lower than Clinton County's, we're going to get those people in our area," Sortman said.
He agreed with Metzger that infrastructure plays an important role, saying that a lack of expansion of infrastructure can "hinder" new housing construction.
Sortman also said county commissioners need to "have more conversations" with developers and added that the county needs more moderately priced housing.
Mussina said that inflation's toll on building supplies partially explains the challenges in housing construction and that the region needs to see older properties refurbished to reenter the market.
Mussina expressed reservations about tax breaks, saying voters perceive them as shifting the burden to residential properties and families.
He also noted that Lycoming County's water systems are a selling point, capable of supporting much more industry.
Mussina, in sharing his thoughts on housing, touted his experience in both real estate and education, then proposed training programs to use renovating existing housing as a teaching opportunity.
"It's a life skill they can have forever," he said. "We have an incredible shortage of blue-collar workers, whether it's plumbers or electricians or pipe-fitters."
Moffett noted that WalMart, one of the largest employers in the country, also has one of the highest percentages of its employees on public assistance.
"It doesn't make any sense," she said.
"I'm always going to be an advocate for families, but, jobs -- union jobs," Moffett said. "I was a union job. My dad worked for Yellow Freight. He drove trucks."
She described the benefits of his union to her family and knowing about their negotiating processes.
"I know the good they can do," she said.
She touted the industrial park, highways and the Susquehanna -- particularly for recreational businesses -- as assets to attract employers and noted Dauphin County is looking at a county-level minimum wage increase.
"We have so much potential as a county for so many things," Moffett said. "My mind goes into overdrive when I think about what we could do as a county."
Moffett, acknowledging the increasing costs of lumber, suggested efforts should focus on redeveloping unused commercial and industrial properties into apartment buildings. She added that the commissioners, with regards to housing and other issues as well, need to seek more community feedback. She cited her own meeting with real estate professionals' groups as an example.
"Get with people who know what's out there," Moffett said.
She also said more dialogue between leaders and the public can correct misunderstandings contributing to the problem.
"People have the misconception that if you create affordable housing, it's going to bring in a certain type of people," she said. "They're going to mess it up, they're going to run it down and it's going to decrease the value. But we have to get away from that stereotype because people need somewhere to stay."