Northern Kentucky, like most of the state, finds itself in a housing shortage.

Three mayors from Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties gathered this week to talk about how they want to solve that problem.

Our Emily Sisk has that and more from northern Kentucky.

6650 that's the number of housing units Northern Kentucky needs to add over the next five years, according to a report from the Area Development District.

The real estate costs are so varied in northern Kentucky, as mayors from Florence, Covington and Fort Thomas discussed, each of their cities have different housing needs.

Covington Mayor Ron Washington said the city has around 200 vacant lots or abandoned buildings, and he wants to see how they can use those to offset the housing shortage.

To keep this momentum going, we need people.

We need people downtown.

We need people visiting our restaurants.

And only thing we can do is we can meet them there.

By turning these vacant properties into an opportunity, and we're going to think outside the box and we're going to make it happen.

We don't have time to study anymore.

That's what I feel.

Let's go.

There's also a concern that new housing won't be affordable in Florence and Covington.

The median price of home sold last month was around $250,000.

That's according to Realtor.com.

Florence's mayor said they're doing their part.

However, when it comes to income based housing, Florence and Covington, we're doing our fair share for income aligned housing.

So we do need other communities to step up.

The Florence mayor also listed a demographic she believes needs more support from regional leaders when it comes to housing development.

One large segment of the population that is really underserved in housing and really struggling right now is seniors.

Mayor ambition challenged local philanthropies to find a way to support senior housing projects.

The City of Fort Thomas characterizes itself very differently from Covington and Florence.

Mayor Eric Hawes said homes rarely come up for sale because they're passed down to family members.

Realtor.com shows the median home price in Fort Thomas was $335,000.

The reason we have so many great people in Fort Thomas is because of the schools, doesn't have anything to do with me or council or anything else.

The schools are so good that parents who care about their children's education want to live in Fort Thomas.

Fort Thomas Independent Schools received the highest state rating last year in the Northern Kentucky region.

Covington mayor joked that he'd be happy to share some housing units with Fort Thomas.

We can bounce in about 200 homes your way.

They can probably help your community if you're interested.

The leaders also discussed transportation challenges for Covington.

Multiple structures, including the Brant Spence Bridge and Fourth Street Bridge, will soon be under construction.

The Fourth Street Bridge, which connects Newport and Covington, will be closed until the new structure is complete in 2028.

Fort Thomas leader shared his criticism about the project.

Closing that bridge is going to kill business.

It is really going to hurt businesses.

All kinds of businesses and other economic development projects.

Mayor Robertson said the city is still looking to turn its Florence Mall into a mixed use property.

But it will come with quite the price tag.

It's about 75 developable acres.

Figured it'll take about $80 million to move the needle on that project.

So it's a heavy lift.

And in Covington, the central riverfront is preparing to bring new homes, offices and a large hotel to downtown.

There's going to be a hotel there.

It's going to be about 250 keys at that hotel.

It's going to have a rooftop restaurant.

Mayor Washington said while the central riverfront is drawing lots of attention, he wants to put equal focus on the rest of Covington, which is home to 40,000 people.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Emily Sisk.

Thank you Emily.

Another focus for the city leaders is developing affordable and accessible childcare.

Florence's mayor said if they can get kids in childcare, more parents can go to work.