RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO) — Rapid City hosted the Affordable Housing Summit on October 18th.

This event is a collaboration with the city in hopes to find affordable housing for those below the income median.

The strategic housing initiative hopes to increase housing inventory, accessibility and stability to the Rapid City community.

“Nationally it continues to be a trend where we’re losing housing. Where we’re not able to retain the lower-income housing that we have. There continues to be a diminishing supply, and that’s true in the Black Hills as well as outside in the rest of the Nation,” BH Area Community Foundation CEO Liz Hamburg said.

This summit is an opportunity for the community to come together and help solve this issue.

“Building a better Rapid City does not happen by one company dreaming, or two companies dreaming, this is a community effort. Also elected officials and city offices, that’s a community effort. So we want to be there for them and do our best to make this happen,” Dream Design Director of Construction Kumar Veluswamy said.

When it comes to affordable housing, this summit wanted to emphasize low incomes and workforce housing. That being those that make between twenty and fifty thousand dollars, that are below the thirty percent threshold.

Rapid City’s current median income sits around $58,000, and this summit is to help those who make less than that.

“Our rents continue to rise and so we’re looking for ways to make more housing available to those that make less than $58,000 a year. So that they can pay the rest of their bills, they can potentially save for a house and they can really get on their feet,” Hamburg said.

Finding affordable homes is something this group hopes to make a reality for more people in the community.

This group believes that with Rapid City’s population on the rise, finding affordable housing is key to economic stability.