A Massachusetts House-Senate conference committee is negotiating which housing measures will end up in the state’s final economic development bill, as officials and housing advocates confront a shortfall that advocates say is contributing to rising out-migration and difficulty filling open jobs across the state.

Massachusetts must build 222,000 new homes by 2035 to meet demand, according to Gov. Maura Healey’s office. Matt Noyes, director of state and federal advocacy at the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association, known as CHAPA, said the new units must serve households at all income levels. “And those homes have to be affordable to households at all income levels. It’s not enough to build 222,000 McMansions. We need homes that are affordable to low- and moderate-income households, and homes that are affordable to extremely low-income households,” Noyes said.

The housing shortage and the state’s economy are linked, according to multiple advocates and South Coast lawmakers who spoke to The Light, the New Bedford-based news outlet that originally reported the story. Migration out of Massachusetts is on the rise, those sources said, and employers are struggling to fill open roles — a pattern the sources linked to the housing shortage.

Both chambers moved earlier this year. The House and Senate included several housing-related measures in their respective economic development bills, which passed in July. The conference committee is now working through which of those provisions will survive in the final bill.

Even if the two chambers agree to adopt each other’s ideas, advocates and lawmakers agree there is more work to do to promote housing growth next year. The 2035 target and the affordability concerns tied to it remain a focus for advocates and lawmakers heading into next year.

The reporting was originally published by The New Bedford Light.