The League asks you, the policy makers, to try to meet Fremont’s ABAG numbers.  During the last segment of the Housing Element (2003), Fremont only produced 397 of the Very Low Income Units or 36.8% of the ABAG Objective and 106 or 16.7% of ABAG’s objective for Low Income Households.  

 The effect of not reaching ABAG’s goals is make it harder for those who work in Fremont to also live here. Commuting from afar decreases their quality of life and increases their daily expenses. It also adds to poorer air quality with so many commuting.

As the Council knows, very low income housing will not be met by developers. It takes the services of non-profit housing developers and the City of Fremont.  Fremont leaders must put on their thinking caps to come up with creative ways to assist non-profit developers to increase the amount of affordable housing for very low and low income households.

We understand that when the inclusionary ordinance comes before the Council in the near future, some changes will be proposed so that more money will be available for low-income housing.  We urge you to support this. We know that it will only be a drop in the bucket and more ways of increasing the City’s Housing Trust Fund must be developed.  We urge you to start thinking in this direction.

Thank you.