Pierce County will award affordable housing grants totaling $577,764 this fall and is seeking possible recipients. Completed applications must be submitted to the Department of Community Services by 4 p.m. Oct. 28.

This funding is open to affordable housing providers only and is not for individual applicants. An affordable housing provider can be a non-profit organization, government entity or for-profit developer.

Pierce County Housing Programs will hold an application workshop for the fall funding round Sept. 28 from 10 a.m. to noon in conference room A at the Community Services Department, 3602 Pacific Ave.

The Affordable Housing Program was created by the state Legislature in 2002. It is funded by $10 fees applied by the county auditor on recorded documents. “The purpose of the program is to create and maintain affordable housing for very low income people,” said Bryan Schmid, loan officer with the county’s Housing Programs Division.

Very low income is defined as below 50 percent of the area median income. That income level is $31,000 a year for a household of four.

Eligible activities for the SHB 2060 program include these:

— Acquisition, rehabilitation and-or new construction of housing projects or units that are affordable to very low income persons;

— Operation and maintenance costs for housing projects built with housing trust funds that are affordable to very low income persons and that require a supplement to rent income to cover operating expenses;

— Rental assistance vouchers provided to very low income persons and administered by a local public housing authority or other organization that has an eligible rental assistance voucher program.

Applications can be accessed at http://www.piercecountywa.org/2060app.