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Fremont

Fast Out of the Gate
Housing Element Status
Certified
Rent Burden
39%
rent burdened
Affordable Housing Production
3%
affordable permits issued
Housing Programs
93
total programs
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Housing Programs

Housing programs are the strategies that cities and counties legally have at their disposal to produce more and preserve existing affordable housing, as well as protect existing residents from getting displaced from their homes and communities.

6th Cycle Programs

93
total programs

Local housing programs, as part of a housing element, have significant impacts on a city or county reaching its affordable housing goals. Each additional housing policy has a significant impact on the residents who are most in need of affordable housing. However, the number of programs that a jurisdiction includes in their housing element is not meant to imply how well a city or county is addressing local housing needs since the quality and impact of each will need to be determined as well.

Overview of Program Deliverables

Use the below data to explore this jurisdiction’s approaches to affirmatively furthering fair housing for the 6th element cycle, and review the actions, deliverables, and deadlines committed to for each program.

PROGRAM NUMBER
ACTIONS
DELIVERABLE
DELIVERABLE DATE
17
Develop and Refine Objective Design Standards Consistent with State Law to Provide a Predictable Basis to Review Housing Projects. The City shall revise existing design guidelines to encourage the highest level of design quality, while at the same time reducing delays and uncertainty for developers by providing clear direction on the required standards. The “highest level of design quality” refers to development that is safe, aesthetically pleasing, harmonious with its setting, respects privacy and views, preserves valuable community resources such as trees and historic resources, and supports a more sustainable community. Objective
Adopt updated Design Guidelines
Within 12 months of Housing Element adoption
18
The City shall develop objective findings to apply when residential projects require discretionary design review.
Objective Adopt code update
Within 12 months of Housing Element adoption
69
The City shall continue to implement the City’s “Reasonable Accommodations Ordinance” to comply with the federal Fair Housing Act. The ordinance was put in place to provide a process for making and acting upon requests for reasonable accommodation.
Objective Continue to implement ordinance.
Ongoing
92
The City shall conduct a mid-term evaluation of AFFH programs, including analysis of the effectiveness of programs toward objectives and broader goals and make adjustments as necessary within one year or as appropriate.
Monitor AFFH programs annually. Conduct a midterm evaluation of AFFH programs and modify strategies as necessary
Track progress annually as part of APR. Determine necessity for adjustments by April 2027 (as part of 2026 APR review). Modify strategies by April 2028, or as appropriate, if adjustments are necessary
64
Many underutilized sites within the Sites Inventory are excess land associated with a religious facility. The City shall provide technical assistance and support to religious organizations interested in subdividing and selling their land for housing development
Provide technical assistance to facilitate housing development on church properties
Contact organizations within 12 months of Housing Element adoption. Technical assistance ongoing
70
The City shall make the following changes to the zoning ordinance in order to facilitate development of residential care facilities for people with disabilities: • Residential facilities for seven or more persons are not currently classified in the zoning ordinance, other than residential care facilities specifically for the elderly. The City shall revise the language of the use categories to create a “residential care facilities” use classification that applies to all residential care uses, regardless of the reason why residents need residential care. • The City shall revise the zoning permissions for residential care facilities so that they are permitted by-right within all residential zoning districts, including single-family, duplex, and multi-family zoning districts. • The City shall clarify that all residential care facilities are only subject to objective standards that facilitate approval certainty, similar to other residential uses of the same type. • The City shall revise the zoning definitions to explicitly state that a “family” includes the residents of residential care facilities and group homes for people with disabilities, in accordance with published guidance from 21 Elements and Mental Health Advocacy Services, Inc. The City shall make the following changes to the zoning ordinance in order to facilitate the process for reasonable accommodations: • The City shall revise the findings required for a reasonable accommodation in order to ensure that all findings can be objectively determined. Specifically, the City shall remove language from the fifth finding that currently requires subjective judgement regarding “the substantial detriment of the residential character of that neighborhood.” The objective findings shall facilitate the speedy approval of reasonable accommodation requests to facilitate the development of housing opportunities for people with disabilities. All zoning text amendments implemented under this program shall be consistent with HCD’s Group Home Technical Advisory released on December 20, 2022.
Adopt ordinance
Within 12 months of Housing Element adoption
63
Given that land costs are a significant constraint to housing development, land already owned by public agencies shall be prioritized for the development of affordable housing. The City shall regularly review the inventory of City-owned surplus, vacant, or underused land, no longer needed for current or foreseeable future public operations, that should be considered for sale or lease for development of affordable housing and/or shelters. The City shall prioritize the review of sites within high resource areas and comply with all requirements of the Surplus Lands Act. In prioritizing public land for affordable housing, the City will comply with all requirements of the Surplus Lands Act, which contains requirements and procedures for designating public properties as surplus and selling or leasing those properties. The Surplus Lands Act requires that, before selling or leasing a property, local agencies must send a Notice of Availability to housing sponsors, local public entities, and local, regional and states agencies. Entities have 60 days to respond to the notice and 90 days to negotiate with respondents in good faith. The Surplus Lands Act requires that, during the negotiation process, local agencies cannot prohibit a residential use or limit residential density below what is provided by zoning. When selecting a development partner, cities are generally required to prioritize affordable housing uses. Under the Surplus Land Act, State HCD would review disposition agreements for compliance with state law prior to the execution of a final sale or lease agreement. In addition to complying with the requirements of the Surplus Lands Act, the City will also: • Promote the City’s surplus properties annually through the Housing Element Annual Progress Report process (Program 86) • Promote the City’s surplus properties though the City’s online site inventory (Program 40) • Regularly monitor the inventory of City-owned surplus, vacant, or underutilized land, no longer needed for current or foreseeable public operations, that should be considered for sale or lease for development of affordable housing and/or shelters. The City shall prioritize the review of sites within high resource areas. • Regularly monitor the status of available land owned by other public agencies and work with developers that may wish to develop such properties for affordable housing and/or shelters. The City shall commit the designated-surplus 8.4-acre City-owned site located at the intersection of Decoto Road and Fremont Blvd (Site No. 258 and 259 in the Sites Inventory) for residential development during the 2023-2031 planning period. Within 12 months of adoption of the Housing Element, the City shall apply for available grants or identify local funds to assist in the planning of the site to maximize affordable housing development, economic return and community benefits through redevelopment of the site. Within 24 months of adoption of the Housing Element, the City shall prepare detailed analysis of the development potential of the site, including identification/removal of potential constraints to redevelopment, and prepare conceptual site plans. Within 36 months of the adoption of the Housing 2-32 Element, the City shall issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for market-rate and affordable housing developers asking for proposals to redevelop the site. At the conclusion of the RFP process, the City shall select a development partner to proceed with redevelopment of the site and negotiate a purchase or lease agreement. The City shall process planning entitlements prior to the execution of the purchase or lease agreement. The timeframe from executing an agreement with a developer to issuance of building permits is estimated to take approximately 24-36 months. The redevelopment of the site will be guided through a public process, including engagement of community stakeholders. The City shall also work with other public agencies to prioritize development of affordable housing on their properties and remove barriers to the construction of affordable housing on those lands. The Fremont Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Station in particular has an underutilized parking area that could provide an opportunity for affordable housing near transit. In partnership with BART, the City will strive to encourage transit oriented and equitable development on the BART-owned Fremont BART parking lot site (Site No. 24 in the Sites Inventory) to accelerate housing production, promote transportation options and achieve equitable and inclusive communities. The city will diligently pursue necessary actions to remove barriers and support and promote housing and community development on the BART-owned land in the 2023-2031 planning period, including but not limited to: Market Readiness & Affordable Housing Funding • Affordable Housing Subsidy: Seek funding to assist in development of the BART-owned land, especially affordable housing subsidy local match (Housing Trust Fund, advocacy for County source, locally generated affordable housing funds, or other) • Grant Competitiveness: Explore avenues to remain competitive at obtaining state funding resources for affordable and/or supportive housing, including potentially the state’s Pro-Housing Designation, to accelerate development, as discussed in Program 53. • Cost Reduction: Consider fee waivers or reductions • Barrier Removal: Remove other barriers to development, which include, but are not limited to, site preparation and infrastructure. Local Support • Committed Public Support: Demonstrate Council action showing prioritization of BART property development, which includes many of the commitments herein. As part of this effort, promote the vision for the Fremont BART parking lot in the City Center Community Plan. • Zoning: Review City Center zoning to ensure that zoning, development standards (including parking, height limits, lot coverage floor area ratios, etc.), permit procedures and other land use measures enable residential development without discretionary action. • Policy Alignment: Ensure alignment from City and BART on Goals and Objectives for development, including consistent agreement on density and height objectives. • Streamlining: Enable streamlining and priority processing of entitlements and issuing permits, by ensuring by right development for the BART site. • Objective Standards: Review objective design standards for the City Center Community Plan area that will apply to the BART property to ensure that it would support streamlined, ministerial review • Staff Resources: Allocate City staff time to support development of BART property • Prioritization: Advocate for reclassifying the Fremont BART Station as a near term project in the BART Transit Oriented Development Program Work Plan when opportunities to amend the document arise throughout the 2023-2031 planning period. 2-33 Infrastructure Needs • Collaborate on reconfiguring access and on-site infrastructure needs, including but not limited to: o Options for BART riders to park on- and off-site (such as on-street parking management, coordination with private parking owners) o Potential relocation of inter-modal facilities o Improvements to walking and biking access o Potential relocation or removal of infrastructure, as long as it doesn’t impact critical operations and safet
Facilitate development of affordable housing on publicly-owned land
Surplus Lands: • Promote City surplus sites annually through Housing Element APR. • Promote public sites through online inventory within 24 months of adoption of the Housing Element. Fremont/Decoto Site: • Apply for grant funding or identify local funds for site planning and analysis within 12 months of adoption of the Housing Element. • Prepare detailed analysis of the development potential of the site, including identification/removal of potential constraints to redevelopment, and prepare conceptual site plans within 24 months of adoption of the Housing Element. • Issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for market-rate and affordable housing developers asking for proposals to redevelop the site within 36 months of adoption of the Housing Element. • Process planning entitlements prior to the execution of a lease or purchase agreement. • Select a development partner and negotiate a lease or purchase agreement within 48 months of adoption of the Housing Element. • Facilitate development of the site throughout the planning period. Fremont BART Parking Lot Site: 2-34 • Report on status of public property annually. • Analyze barriers to development and prepare strategies to address barriers within 24 months of adoption of the Housing Element. • Review City Center zoning, objective standards, and procedures to ensure streamlined review consistent with aligned BART and City of Fremont goals within 24 months of adoption of the Housing Element. • Facilitate market readiness and affordable housing funding, enhance local support, and collaborate on infrastructure needs throughout the planning period.
1
As discussed in Chapter 7 - Fair Housing Assessment, renters, people of color, and lower-income people disproportionately face substandard housing conditions in the City. By dedicating resources to prevent and remedy substandard housing, the City furthers fair housing opportunity for those protected groups impacted by this concern. The City’s Code Enforcement Division is responsible for investigating reports of substandard housing conditions and ensuring that landlords address them in a prompt manner. During the previous Housing Element planning period, Code Enforcement investigated over 300 instances of substandard housing conditions. Code Enforcement is largely completed on a complaint basis. Tenants can file complaints anonymously by phone, email, web form, or through the City app. When staff investigate and determine that a violation is occurring, they work with property owners and tenants to correct the violation in a timely manner with an emphasis on voluntary compliance from landlords and anti-displacement of tenants. Experience has shown that individual apartments within one building have so much in common with each other that one unit has a likelihood of being representative of the others. Individual apartments at a property were all built at the same time, using the same materials, by the same work crews, and by the same design. The property owner stands to benefit if common problems are dealt with at once. Therefore, the City conducts proactive code enforcement activities when there is a reasonable suspicion that systemic problems exist within an apartment building or complex of buildings. In these cases, the inspector investigates a subset of additional units within the building or complex. The exact sample size depends on the circumstances, including the type/severity of damage and size of the complex. These targeted proactive code enforcement activities maximize the effectiveness of code compliance resources to identify and address substandard housing issues.
Investigate all reported instances of substandard rental housing to ensure Fremont residents have adequate living conditions.
Ongoing
2
The City shall provide an annual training to multi-family rental property owners and managers. The training shall educate property owners and managers about their legal responsibilities to providing safe, habitable dwellings and provide an overview of related City programs like code enforcement and the rent review ordinance. The AFFH Analysis (Chapter 7) found that the neighborhoods of Central Fremont, Parkmont, Sundale, and Irvington had the highest incidence of code enforcement cases related to substandard housing. By training apartment owners and property managers within these neighborhoods regarding their responsibilities, the City can reduce the incidence of substandard housing issues. During the next planning period, the City’s Housing Division shall conduct targeted geographic outreach to landlords in these neighborhoods to inform them about the annual training. Targeted outreach may include: • Hosting in-person trainings within or near these neighborhoods • Sponsoring social media posts targeting a certain geographic area to advertise the training • Contacting neighborhood-specific groups to promote the training among their membership • Mailing flyers directly to landlords within the geographic area to advertise the training
Educate apartment owners and property manager on legal responsibilities to ensure Fremont residents have adequate living conditions.
Hold one training annually with a geographic emphasis on the neighborhoods of Central Fremont, Parkmont, Sundale, and/or Irvington
3
The City shall continue to partner with a non-profit organization, such as Habitat for Humanity, to provide home rehabilitation assistance to low-income homeowners. Through Habitat’s program, qualified homeowners can apply to receive grants of up to $15,000 to perform deferred maintenance, address code violations, or make small upgrades to their home. Most of the people assisted through this program live within one of the three mobile home parks within the City, although some single-family homeowners and condominium owners throughout the City also receive assistance. Most of the people assisted through this program are also seniors and people with disabilities. The program provides grant recipients with the opportunity to make accessibility improvements that allow them to remain living independently in their homes. Resultantly, it helps seniors and people with disabilities maintain access to housing.
Utilize all available CDBG funds to assist lowincome homeowners with minor home repairs. Assist 10 low-income households annually, including at least five low-income households where at least one member has a disability.
Assist ten households annually. Annually report on the total households, total households with a disability, and geographic distribution of households assisted. If analysis demonstrates that awards to condominium and single-family homeowners are not equitably distributed throughout the City during the first half of the planning period (through CY 2026), then the City shall implement a policy for geographic targeting before March 2028.
4
The City promotes preservation of historic resources through a program that screens possible historic resources when projects come in for alteration or demolition. There have been several successful large residential projects in the City that incorporated historic resources and allowed them to be adapted into modern housing. Additionally, the City has received much interest from homeowners of individual historic homes in adding an ADU consistent with the City’s adopted objective design standards for ADUs on historic properties. In order to reduce the processing time and uncertainty for applications involving historic resources, the City would develop a set of objective design standards for the review of projects involving historic homes.
Objective Adopt objective design standards for historic homes
Within 24 months of Housing Element adoption
5
The City has over 700+ planned districts, many of which closely mirror the standard single-family residential zoning districts. Some of these Planned Districts have limitations that substantially limit or prohibit additions. As the housing stock continues to age, these restrictions may have an increasingly severe effect on the ability to modernize and adapt the housing stock in these neighborhoods. City shall complete comprehensive study of existing Planned Districts and develop a program to re-zone some Planned Districts to their most comparable standardized districts. This program will allow additions and modernization of additional single-family housing stock. The AFFH Analysis (Chapter 7) found that areas of the City generally located west of Mission Boulevard and I-680 and north of Auto Mall Parkway have the greatest incidence of overcrowding within the City. This generally corresponds to the North Fremont, Centerville, Central, and Irvington community plan areas. Resultantly, the City shall prioritize the review and rezoning of single-family Planned Districts located within this area. Additionally, this area includes all but two of the City’s tracts with a substantial (>25%) low-income population. By prioritizing these neighborhoods, the City will facilitate home expansion to reduce the incidence of overcrowding within these areas and better meet the needs of lower-income homeowners.
Review Planned Districts for opportunities to convert to standard zoning. Rezone Planned Districts to standard zoning where feasible.
Review single-family planned districts within identified neighborhoods within 18 months of Housing Element adoption. Review single-family planned districts within remaining areas within 24 months of Housing Element adoption.
5.5
Expanding the adoption of solar energy can lower the amount of environmental pollution and decrease the use of fossil fuels. Property owners and tenants can also benefit from cost savings on their utility bill. The City shall encourage the installation of solar panels on existing multifamily apartment buildings. The City shall encourage affordable housing property managers to take advantage of the State of California’s Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program, which provides up to 100% of the funding for solar installation on qualifying buildings.
Achieve solar installation on at least three multifamily properties by 2025
By 2025
6
Every two years, the City adopts a capital budget, known as the Capital Improvement Program budget (CIP). Separate from the annual city operating budget, the CIP funds public infrastructure projects, including street repair, traffic improvements, and park development/maintenance. Through the Capital Improvement Program, the City identifies and schedules periodic maintenance and improvement of facilities supporting existing residential neighborhoods, such as streets and sidewalks.
Adopt CIP to fund improvements that support existing residential neighborhoods
Adopt CIP every two years
7
Currently, there are 753 mobile homes in Fremont. Mobile homes are disproportionately owned by senior citizens, persons on fixed incomes, and persons of low and moderate income. Mobile home owners, unlike apartment tenants or residents of other rental units, are in the unique position of having made a substantial investment in a residence for which space is rented or leased. Because mobile home owners are limited in their relocation options, they are vulnerable to sudden unreasonable rent increases. The City’s Mobile Home Preservation and Rent Stabilization Ordinance is intended to protect the mobile home owners from unreasonable rent increases and other abusive or disruptive practices by park owners. The ordinance provides limits and a process for rent increases, as well as a process for the conversion of mobile home parks to other uses. Fremont’s three mobile home parks are located within Census tracts designated as High Resource by HCD/TCAC. Preservation of mobile home spaces at an affordable rent allows continued provision of naturally-affordable housing within High Resource neighborhoods.
Preserve affordability of 753 mobile homes
Ongoing
8
Condominium conversions decrease the supply of rental housing in the community. Older apartments, which may be more naturally affordable, are at greater risk for condominium conversion during strong markets. In order to discourage the conversion of rental housing stock into ownership housing stock, the City specifies a procedure for applications for condominium conversion and limits the number of units that can be converted each year.
Limit conversions to 100 units per year
Ongoing
9
The City does not currently have an ordinance in place specifically for the regulation of short-term rental units. Based on current estimates, there are more than 300 short term rental units active in the City. Some of these units are full homes or apartments for rent, which removes units from the long-term housing rental market. Others consist of portions of a unit that is occupied by an owner or tenant. The City shall implement a short-term rental ordinance that discourages or disallows short-term rentals that remove housing units from the market. The City shall also consider a program to promote the conversion of short-term rentals into long-term rental housing options, like ADUs.
Adopt a short-term rental ordinance
Within 12 months of Housing Element adoption
10
The City shall continue to monitor affordable housing developments that could be at risk for converting to market rate. The City has a database to track the status of at risk units on an annual basis with the intention of working with owners to preserve the affordability of the units. The City shall contact property owners of units at risk of converting to market-rate housing within three years of affordability expiration. If owners are amenable of retaining the properties as affordable housing, the City shall reach out to a list of qualified non-profit affordable housing developers to determine interested in purchasing and/or managing at-risk units. If necessary and prudent, the City shall utilize its own financial resources (HOME and CDBG, State and Federal funding sources, etc.) to aggressively prevent the conversion of affordable housing units to market rate. If owners choose to let a property convert, then the City shall coordinate with owners of expiring subsidies to ensure the required notices to tenants are sent out at 3 years, 12 months, and 6 months. The City shall also work with Project Sentinel to provide education regarding tenant rights and conversion procedures pursuant to California law to affected tenants. Past success in achieving continued affordability of at-risk units has shown that conversion of units can be prevented with minimal investment of the City’s limited affordable housing funds and maximum utilization of existing funding sources.
Monitor and preserve all at-risk units during the planning period
Monitor annually. Ensure noticing as required by California law.
11
Ensure that Existing Deed-Restricted Housing Complies with Regulatory Restrictions. Deed-restricted affordable housing complexes require monitoring to ensure that they are being rented in conformance with the requirements of their deed restriction. Ensuring complexes follow their regulatory restrictions is critical to ensuring that existing affordable housing stock is operated correctly.
Monitor deed-restricted units
Ongoing
12
In 2017, the Fremont City Council adopted the Rent Review Ordinance. The ordinance covers all residential rental units in Fremont, including single family homes. The Rent Review Program provides a review and formal hearing for proposed rent increases in excess of 5% in any 1 must include information regarding the Rent Review Ordinance when providing notice of a rent increase. The City Council receives an update on the effectiveness of the Rent Review Ordinance each year. Information from that report shall also be provided to HCD within the Housing Element Annual Progress Report. Currently, over 70% of rent review cases are resolved through mediation prior to a formal Rent Board hearing. Mediation ensures that tenants receive a speedy resolution to rent increase disputes.
Support 100% of applicants
Ongoing
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