As the median local home price continued to hover well above $300,000, business executives and political leaders agree that Las Vegas is not as welcoming as it once was.

"Workforce housing is one of the most significant and pressing problems facing Southern Nevada today," said Ken Lange, executive director of the Nevada State Education Association. "It's time for the community to come together to find solid strategies that will provide for working families."

Lange acknowledged that various groups have met to discuss strategies for addressing the lack of affordable housing in the Las Vegas Valley, but he said that a real solution will come from bringing those groups together.

To that end, the education association and several other organizations will host an April 6 conference of 200 local leaders - ranging from elected officials and nonprofit organizers to business leaders and developers - focused on generating broad plans for action. The meeting will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Green Valley Ranch resort.

"What's so promising about this is that we have all recognized as individual organizations that we can't do this alone," said Bret Bicoy, president of the Nevada Community Foundation.

Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, said that the fastest growing city in the nation there's a "responsibility" to also create affordable homes, apartment and condominiums for the workforce needed to support that growth.

Conklin also serves as chairman of an interim legislative subcommittee on the availability and affordaility of housing.

"It's quite evident ... that this is not a state issue," Conklin said. "This is not a city issue. This is not a county issue. It's a community issue. It's going to take all of us playing out part. There's no one magic bullet."

Bret Bicoy, president of the Nevada Community Foundation, speaks about the need for afforadable housing on Monday. State Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, listens at right. Photo by Steve Marcus

Edna Jager, a spokeswoman for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), also was encouraged by the broad ranging involvement in the upcoming conference.

"What's represented here today is the realization that what we need now is a convening of the broadest set of stakeholders," she said. "We need sound policies that are politically viable. The problem is huge and the solutions must be of similar scope."

Lange also was quick to point out that the problem will only get worse without action soon. He pointed to recent research that indicated that over the next nine years 138,000 new households will be added to the community in order to support the current economic growth.

Bicoy agreed.

"The challenge is that as much as we feel this issue now, the real challenges are on the horizon," he said. "The problem is not going to get better.''