Office of the Mayor
3300 Capitol Avenue, Building A | P.O. Box 5006, Fremont, CA 94537-5006 510 284-4011 ph | 510 284-4001 fax | www.fremont.gov June 1, 2023
The Honorable Buffy Wicks
Chair, Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development 1021 O Street, Room 4240
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: AB 1657 (Wicks) The Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2024.
Notice of Support (As of 04/17/23)
Dear Assemblymember Wicks,
The City of Fremont is pleased to support your AB 1657, which would place a $10 billion bond measure on the March 2024 ballot to spur the production of affordable and supportive housing.
Housing affordability and homelessness are among the most critical issues facing Californians today. City officials intimately understand these crises firsthand. Local leaders are working to find creative solutions so homes of all income levels can be built. That is why cities are calling on the Legislature and the Governor to provide ongoing funding to help cities prevent and reduce homelessness and spur housing development.
AB 1657 would provide targeted and significant funding to support community-based solutions that get our residents off the streets and keep them in their homes. A recent statewide survey by Cal Cities underscores the need for funding. The results show that cities believe limited supportive housing options and lack of ongoing funding are the top two barriers to preventing and reducing homelessness.
The investments proposed in AB 1657 would come at a critical time as the last round of funding for the state’s flagship multi-family affordable housing program, the Multifamily Housing Program, was oversubscribed ten to one. Affordable housing projects are ready to go if funding is available.
The City of Fremont believes that now is the time to invest in affordable housing. With the slowing economy, stubbornly high inflation, and the heightened threat of an economic recession, we know that our residents, now more than ever, are at risk of housing instability, losing their homes altogether, and falling into homelessness.
For these reasons, the City of Fremont supports AB 1657.
Sincerely,
Lily Mei
Mayor, City of Fremont
cc: The Honorable Buffy Wicks
Senator Aisha Wahab & Assemblymember Alex Lee
Sam Caygill, East Bay Division, [email protected]
League of California Cities, [email protected]