Emeryville celebrates opening of affordable housing complex

By John Ramos

On Wednesday morning in Emeryville, the community celebrated the opening of a brand-new housing complex, offering 90 permanently affordable units, with an emphasis on helping the homeless population.  

And it is who the building is named for that really gives it its public service mission.

The Nellie Hannon Gateway building is a new affordable housing high-rise, and at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, Emeryville Mayor Sukhdeep Kaur said it was a long time coming.

“We have been at it for about seven years,” she said. “And now that it’s finally realized, we love that it’s a beautiful building and it’s emblematic of public service.”

The building’s 10,000 square feet of hand-painted mural is titled “A New Day” and is intended to get drivers passing by to calm down and “cherish the moment of now.”  The artist, Joaquin Newman, said it took a full year to complete, and it was a unique experience to be working on scaffolding seven stories high.

“Being high up is actually really beautiful, especially seeing the Bay Area from that height early in the mornings,” he said.  “Seeing the fog roll in, seeing the sunrise. It’s one of those incredible things, and like the mural is supposed to share with you, just be present and enjoy our natural cycles and cherish them.”

The building was developed by Resources for Community Development, or RCD, a Bay Area nonprofit specializing in affordable housing projects. It cost more than $90 million, much of it coming from State housing grants. But it is down on the bottom floor that the building gets its namesake. The Emeryville Citizens Assistance Program, or ECAP, first began distributing food out of Nellie Hannon’s garage in 1976.  

She had arrived from Texas and enrolled her kids in the local school.

“And you see other children around that were in need,” she remembered. “And then, not only the children, but we could see some of the parents did not have — Did not have very much to help their own. And it just grew from that.”

Even now, at age 88, Hannon still works nearly every day, driving a truck to collect donated food for the distribution center.

“I get up every morning and go pick up the route and stuff,” she said.  

She does it for people like Fatima, a young woman who moved into her apartment in September after living on the streets of Oakland. She said living there helped bring her out of her shell.

“I’m not in a bad environment anymore. So, it’s helped me,” said Fatima. She said it has helped her regain her trust in people, “Yeah, it really did. Because I talk to a lot of people here.”

That’s quite a legacy for Hannon. Although the way she sees it, she didn’t really have much choice.

“God gave it to me to do, and he didn’t tell me to quit yet!” she said, laughing.  “As long as he gives me the strength and supplies the need, that’s what I have to do.”