Our league is very appreciative of the City of Fremont in their efforts to bring more affordable housing to Fremont by having an inclusionary ordinance.
In the past Fremont was seen as a bedroom community with not enough industry. Times have obviously changed. Currently the problem we face is not enough housing that Fremont workers can afford. We do not want to become an economically exclusive community. To be an inclusive community we need housing for retail clerks, health care workers, service industry workers - all of the people who help make Fremont the vibrant, diverse all-American community that it is.

Passing an inclusionary ordinance is a good first step. This needs to be followed with other measures to insure success. We strongly recommend a commercial linkage fee that links new jobs with homes and a Housing Trust Fund that businesses can donate to, similar to the Silicon Valley Housing Trust fund.

We also encourage the City Council to direct staff to identify specific properties in the commercial/industrial areas that can be rezoned and used for affordable housing.

Finally, we recommend that staff make an annual housing report/update of how the City is progressing with efforts to provide/encourage affordable housing. Instead of an annual report which might get lost in the shuffle, we suggest that the city web site provide space for this update whenever there is new information available