My name is Alex Starr, and I am speaking for the League of Women Voters of Fremont, Newark and Union City. 
City staff has worked hard to complete the revisions to the Housing Element and has been responsive to the public comments they heard at the community meetings.  We would like to compliment the staff and then emphasize some issues that the City could work on as we go forward to fulfill Fremont’s ABAG goals to provide homes for extremely low, very low and low income residents.
These are the solutions the City could possibly explore:  Fremont needs to raise the cap on the Redevelopment Fund as soon as it is possible; commercial linkage fees could be explored as many nearby cities now use them; impact fees on affordable developments could be lowered or eliminated; and set asides for affordable housing from the Redevelopment Fund could be raised from the current 20% to 25%.
We are pleased that there are two managed affordable housing projects going forward in the City at this time. We encourage you to find ways to extend contracts with landlords so that the current affordable units can be maintained. We encourage Fremont to work with the owners and residents of Besaro Mobile Home Park so that the units there are not lost to people who need affordable homes.
Collectively, we need to study how to generate more funds for the construction of affordable housing. A public/private trust fund, similar to the one that the Silicon Valley Leadership Group pays into, would be excellent in our area.
Fremont has completed this Housing Element Revision in a timely fashion. The League looks forward to working with the City as we work as a community to solve the problems of providing housing for all Fremont residents.
Thank you.