Brandon Leuallen, The Business Times

The Housing and Building Association of Western Colorado will host its first housing summit on Thursday, Feb. 6, at the Colorado Mesa University Ballroom. The event, which will run from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., aims to address housing challenges in the Grand Valley.

Registration is open to both industry professionals and the public.

According to the registration site, “Through a mix of presentations, case studies, and panel discussions, we’ll explore innovative strategies and collaborative solutions to bridge the housing affordability gap and support our community’s workforce.”

Shayna Heiney, executive director of the Housing and Building Association of Western Colorado, emphasized the summit’s focus on community voices.

“We have three separate groups of panelists,” Heiney said, “so we’re really getting the information directly from our community, our business owners, our builders, and also our government officials. I think that’s such an important voice to have right now.”

She added the Common Sense Institute, a nonprofit organization, will present local updates and discuss the impact of government fees, such as impact fees, on other areas in Colorado.

“Them being a particularly unbiased nonprofit — I think that voice is important there as well,” Heiney said.

The summit will feature three panels, each with preset questions and opportunities for audience participation. One panel will include builders and real estate professionals, another will feature city officials, and a third will include representatives from School District 51 and other large employers in the area.

“There are a lot of businesses whose employees do not have permanent housing right now,” Heiney said.

Don Potter, president of the Grand Junction Area Realtors Association, highlighted inventory and affordability as key concerns.

“The lack of inventory, which leads to an affordability issue, is the primary one that we need to address,” Potter said. “We need to figure out how to add to that inventory in a responsible manner and how to control input costs so that builders and developers have an incentive to add to that inventory.”

Potter stressed the need for collaboration to address housing issues effectively.

“Really, everybody has an idea of how to address the housing issue and how to address affordability issues,” he said. “But it’s really a problem that can’t be solved without broad collaboration. And so the idea behind the summit is to bring in all of these different pieces to the puzzle and see if we can’t get that puzzle in more of a complete state.”