According to the Chenango County 2050 Vision Plan, the development of modern housing, tourist attractions and better jobs may help attract new residents to the area. Yet the questions remain, what will the county do with over 6,000 vacant houses, homes in need of repair, a declining population and placement of the homeless? (Photo by Kelli Miller)

CHENANGO COUNTY — Concerns for Chenango County housing continue to surface as the community identifies local and regional demographic factors in the development for the future of the county.

According to the Chenango County 2050 Vision Plan, the development of modern housing, tourist attractions and better jobs may help attract new residents to the area.

Several questions remain: What will the county do with an estimated 6,000 vacant houses in need of repair? How will the area adapt to a declining and aging population? How will the county accommodate low-income residents and the placement of the growing homeless population?

While elected officials remain tight-lipped on the pending issues, others in the community are proposing solutions, such as the creation of a local land bank and homeless shelter in Norwich.

“It’s really complicated, I know we had a different kind of housing than what we have now,” said Commerce Chenango President and CEO Salvatore Testani. “We’re not meeting the needs of our population and we’re not meeting the needs of our target demographic, people we would like to attract here.”

Testani said no one currently has a perfect answer to the current challenges. He suggested the county look into establishing a land bank and homeless shelter.

“We definitely need a homeless shelter, one with care and treatment,” he said.

“Then we need some for transitional housing for the elderly or disabled, possibly with some sort of supervision so the residents can remain semi-independent,” he added.