Pierce County held a ribbon cutting earlier this week for Gravelly Lake Commons, a new 26-unit affordable housing development in Lakewood built for families with children. The project sits next to the headquarters of Living Access Support Alliance, the nonprofit behind it, and families interested in applying can now join a waitlist for the units.
Pierce County announced the milestone in a social media post, congratulating Living Access Support Alliance, known as LASA, as a project partner and calling the ribbon cutting a step forward in the community's commitment to creating truly affordable housing, according to Pierce County. The county's post notes that people interested in the development can join the waitlist through a link provided in the announcement.
LASA is constructing the 26 units adjacent to its own office headquarters in Lakewood, according to project manager Edge Developers LLC. The firm's project page describes LASA as a community-supported agency committed to preventing homelessness and recurrent homelessness in Lakewood. Edge Developers says it structured and oversaw the project budget, worked with public funders, and managed design and construction progress throughout the build.
Who Qualifies and How Construction Unfolded
The new apartments will be rented to households earning between 30% and 50% of area median income, per the project page. Construction broke ground in August 2025, the same source notes, putting the development on a roughly 14-month timeline from groundbreaking to this week's ribbon cutting.
Affordable housing projects like this one typically rely on a patchwork of funding sources rather than a single check. The News Tribune reports that affordable-housing developments in the county often draw on five or more funding sources, since mission-driven nonprofits tend to rely on layered funding partnerships to get projects built.
A County Still Chasing a Big Housing Target
Gravelly Lake Commons arrives as Pierce County works to close a wide gap between housing supply and need. The county's 2022 Housing Action strategy estimated the region would need to produce more than 2,300 units of affordable housing every year through 2044, according to The News Tribune. Since 2023, the newspaper reports, the county has created 901 units of deed-restricted affordable housing, with roughly 2,700 more units somewhere in the pipeline of development and planning.
Other recent projects illustrate the scale of that pipeline. The Council Compass, Pierce County Council's blog, reported that the council approved $12.2 million in September 2025 to fund four housing projects expected to create or preserve 646 units for individuals and families. Separately, the newspaper's reporting describes Patsy Surh Place, a $36 million Tacoma development offering 77 units for seniors earning up to 30% and 50% of area median income, which included $7 million in county funding among its public contributions.
LASA's work in Lakewood has drawn federal support before. Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland's office announced in 2024 that it had secured $1 million in federal funding for LASA's Campus Housing Project, according to the Office of Rep. Marilyn Strickland. The News Tribune's reporting also points to the Maureen Howard Affordable Housing Sales Tax as a funding tool that makes roughly $20 million available annually for affordable-housing preservation and development across the county.
For now, families hoping to land one of the 26 units at Gravelly Lake Commons can join the waitlist at the link Pierce County shared in its announcement, lasapierce.org/glc-waitlist.
