Maudelle Miller Shirek Community

The Maudelle Miller Shirek Community is a transit-rich, mixed-use affordable housing development in Berkeley, CA, offering 87 new rental apartments for low-income households, including 12 units reserved for formerly unhoused households. 

The low-income units are reserved for those earning less than 20% to 60% of the Area Median Income. (For a single person in 2024, that would mean earning less than 21,800 to 65,400 annually. For a family of four in 2024, that would mean earning less than $31,140 to $93,420 annually.) 

Located across from the Ashby BART station and within a block of a full-service grocery store, this community provides residents with easy access to food, schools, local businesses, and jobs. Maudelle Miller Shirek Community offers residents on-site supportive services and property management, and includes a community room with a full kitchen and parking for bikes and automobiles 
 
Healthy Black Families, a South Berkeley-based nonprofit, occupies the ground floor's community-serving commercial space, strengthening local connections and support systems. Maudelle Miller Shirek is named in memory of the eight-term City Council Member and activist in Berkeley, who fought for civil rights for older adults and low-income individuals. 

The City provided $17 million in funding for the project, comprised of $1,568,000 from U1, $12,932,000 from Measure O, and an additional $2.5 Million from the State’s Local Housing Trust Fund (LHTF) matching grant program. The City successfully leveraged local funds through a competitive application to the State’s LHTF program.  

Additionally, MMSC is the first 100% affordable project applying the City’s Affordable Housing Preference Policy, which prioritizes those who fit in one or more of these categories:  

• Displaced due to BART construction
• Displaced due to foreclosure
• Displaced due to eviction
• Families with children
• Homeless or at-risk of homelessness
• Current or former resident of redlined neighborhood
• Parent or grandparent lived in redlined neighborhood 

The City provided predevelopment and development funding in 2019, giving the project enough local support to leverage the funding needed to develop the project. The City also supported the project by successfully accessing the State’s Local Housing Trust Fund program that provides matching grants to cities that have local housing trust funds like the City of Berkeley. The City also submitted a joint application with the developer for the State’s No Place Like Home (NPLH) program, which was successful, bringing 12 permanent supportive housing units to the project. The City worked closely with the nonprofit developer/property manager to implement the City’s preference policy.