A group of private and public businesses along with non-profit groups are forming partnership to address the acute housing shortage the Wenatchee Valley.

They attended the NCW Regional Housing Summit at Pybus Public Market this week, where ideas were shared on how to provide more housing that’s also affordable.

Steve Maher of Our Valley Our Future spoke at the summit, and he says current housing conditions pose a health and wellness issue as well as an economic problem for the area.

“If you don’t have affordable housing, people are not going to live here,” said Maher. “And that’s going to hurt businesses who can’t recruit employees. It’s going to hurt disposable income.”

A recent survey by Our Valley Our Future showed 62 percent of 1,500 respondents had considered relocating because of the high cost of housing in the Wenatchee area.

Maher said a lot of discussion during the summit centered on alternative housing.

“Steel and glass container homes and 3-D printed concrete homes fit that narrative,” Maher said. “You can put those homes up far less expensively than you can a stick-built home.”

The idea of partnering philanthropy with government to provide more housing was also discussed.

The goal of the group is to formulate recommendations for elected officials and the community on how to tackle the housing problem.

It’d hoped the end result would create more diverse and affordable housing inventory in North Central Washington.

Some statistics affecting housing in the area were also revealed at the summit.