250+ units of affordable housing open in Pierce County. ‘We’re just getting started’

Spanaway has 256 new units of affordable housing following the opening of the Copper Way Apartments complex at 19422 Mountain Highway E.

The project was the first to receive funding from Pierce County’s Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Fund since the new sales tax was passed in 2023. The project received $4.5 million from the fund, according to Pierce County Human Services spokesperson Kari Moore.

On Oct. 3, partners involved with the project — including the Metropolitan Development Council, Washington State Housing Finance Commission, Evergreen Impact Housing Fund and Pierce County — celebrated the opening of the Copper Way Apartments.

Joey Launceford of the Inland Group contractors, who helped bring the project to fruition, said the apartments are already 40% occupied just weeks after completing construction with 80% of them already leased.

“It shows the urgent need for affordable housing in Pierce County,” he told The News Tribune.

Launceford told The News Tribune the project cost about $85.25 million to develop, and its location was chosen more than two years ago after identifying a lack of affordable housing in the Spanaway area.

The development comprises eight residential buildings. It includes an office, a swimming pool, sports courts and a playground.

According to Launceford, the units are for rent at 60% of Area Median Income (AMI) and are rent restricted.

Data from the most recent U.S. Census Bureau survey in 2022 shows Spanaway to have an AMI of $91,346.

During the Oct. 4 opening ceremony of the Copper Way Apartments, Pierce County council member Ryan Mello celebrated the first project made possible by the Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Act.

“We’re just getting started,” he said.

The Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Sales Tax is named after a prominent advocate for the homeless in Tacoma who died in January 2023. It was anticipated to make available an expected $18.2 million to fund the preservation and creation of affordable housing in the region when it was passed in 2023, a nearly three-fold increase from the $6.3 million in funding the county had that year.

Mello said Pierce County has more than 3,250 units of affordable housing “in the pipeline,” according to a county report he received two weeks ago.

The County’s Housing Action Strategy from 2022 suggested the region needs to produce, on average, over 2,300 units per year of housing affordable at or below 50% of AMI through the year 2044, and that over half of the units need to be at 30% AMI or below.