Four of the five candidates hoping to win the Lake Charles mayoral race participated in a debate hosted by Southwest Louisiana Realtors Voter Outreach on Thursday.

Candidates Wilford Carter II, Democrat; Incumbent Nic Hunter, Republican; Marshall Simien, Jr., Independent; and Khalid Taha, Republican, took to the stage in the Rosa Hart Theatre to speak on housing and their first steps if elected into office.

Candidate James Steward, No Party, was not in attendance.

First three steps

If elected, Carter’s first priority will be to promote diversity and unity in Lake Charles.

“We need to make sure that the entire city is being taken care of. We need to include everyone into leadership as every walks of life,” he said. “We have to have everyone, people from other parts of Lake Charles with different visions and different ideas.”

Fiscal responsibility would be next on his list. He said he would call for an audit to assess incoming and outgoing money. His third task would be to focus on bringing more local businesses and large companies to Lake Charles.

Hunter will continue the hurricane recovery process if re-elected.

“We have made miraculous strides. And when you compare what we’ve gone through to other communities, the timeliness, the robustness of our recovery has been amazing. We still have strides to make.”

The bond projects included in LC Rebound — a bond proposal passed last year that will fund $150 million in city projects — and the effort to diversify the city’s economy will continue to take precedence, he said.

“We can’t have all our eggs in one basket,” he said. “Our administration has never had that philosophy, and we’re not going to have that philosophy moving forward.”

Simien’s first act would be to rebrand the city from the “most harmed, weather-battered city in the United States” to an economically strong city, stating that the perception of Lake Charles has hindered growth. He’d then begin focusing investments in infrastructure.

“Right now, money is going out in the streets. You’re seeing all kinds of projects. But once all the federal money is gone, what have we built?” he asked. “We’ve got to invest significant infrastructure. Invest in the streets, the roads, the drainage, put everything in where can can become a truly resilient city.”

Next on the docket would be bolstering economic development through fiscal responsibility (putting city property that does not generate taxes back into the private sector) and leveraging “underperforming assets.”

Taha’s No. 1 priority is safety. With hard-to-fill openings on both the police force and the fire department, he said that safety in Lake Charles is not what it used to be.

“Back in the 80s and the 90s, we used to go to sleep — our houses and apartments unlocked. The presence of police officers in our city will be a major deterrent for the bad guys. And if we don’t have enough police officers to control our neighborhood, we’re in bad shape.”

He would also focus his energy on developing the Interstate 10 corridor and infrastructure and uniting north and south Lake Charles.

Housing

Carter believes there are too many rental complexes being built in Lake Charles. After being asked a question about the state of housing in the city, he said that he is in support of creating more opportunities for real estate investors instead. He also noted the importance of providing “everyday working people” with fiscal and education pathways to home ownership “despite the interest rate, despite the insurance.”

Hunter said that Lake Charles is moving in the right direction, with more “healthy, attainable housing” available “than there has been in decades.” He noted that over 750 single-family homes have been rebuilt or renovated to fortified standards with federal funds.

The “insurance crisis is real,” he admitted, but he believes the city can lessen the negative impacts of insurance at the local level with continued investment in resilient infrastructure.

Simien said the Lake Charles housing market made a resurgence not because of the city, but because of lawyers like himself who helped Lake Charles residents get their entitled insurance money.

First-time homeowner programs need to be a priority, he said, as well as incentive programs to address interest rates. He referenced an article published by The Advocate in January. This article cited a survey by Veros Real Estate Solutions that indicated Lake Charles would be one of the weakest housing markets in the U.S. due to depreciating home values.

“You may be able to own a home, but you won’t be able to afford the insurance.”

Hunter rebutted to call the article “clickbait … designed to enhance clicks.”

Taha called the city’s housing situation “not that good,” and a matter of there not being enough people to buy and sell real estate. He believes city money is not being spent correctly, with new developments being built while some preexisting housing has not recovered from the hurricanes.

“We’re adding more problems to our city instead of taking care of our people,” he said. “The market in Lake Charles, yes, it was booming two, three years ago … It’s not anymore because of nothing being done from our administration.”

The election is on Saturday, March 29.