Fremont City Council Meeting: 03/10/26 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: City Manager's Office
Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Code Adoptions & Amendments
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT (ID # 5662) DOC ID: 5662 B
Updated: 3/6/2026 9:02 AM by Dina Lewis B Page 1
DECLARE A SHELTER CRISIS PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 8698, ET SEQ. – Consider Adoption of a Resolution Declaring a Shelter Crisis in the City of Fremont Pursuant to Government Code Section 8698, et seq. Based Upon the Presence in the City of a Significant Number of Homeless Persons Who Are At Risk Due to Their Inability to Obtain Shelter and Adopting Local Building and Life Safety Standards for Certain New Emergency Housing Facilities that May be Used or Constructed to Help Address the Crisis; and to Consider a Finding that the Adoption of the Resolution is Exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) in that the Proposed Shelter Crisis Declaration Is Not a Project that has the Potential for Causing a Significant Environmental Effect
Contact Persons:
Name: Laurie Flores David Wage
Title: Homeless Services Manager Planning Manager
Div/Dept: City Manager's Office Community Development
Phone: 510-574-2040 510-494-4447
E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Executive Summary: The City of Fremont (“City”) has the option to adopt a resolution declaring a shelter crisis. Declaring a shelter crisis will grant certain immunity and exemptions from state law, thereby allowing certain types of shelter to be approved and constructed more quickly than would otherwise be possible. The declaration would also help to make Fremont a more appealing applicant for funding from the State to assist efforts to reduce homelessness.
This recommendation is being brought forward for City Council consideration now in an effort to support our regional partners at Cardea Health and Abode Services in maintaining the overall viability and Measure W funding for a temporary shelter project at the Motel 6 South site, a project that is aligned Fremont’s Homelessness Response Plan and the City Council’s ongoing priority of reducing homelessness.
BACKGROUND: On September 18, 2018, the City Council adopted a resolution declaring a shelter crisis pursuant to Government Code Section 8698 thereby allowing flexibility or suspension of certain state and local regulations as they apply to City facilities to address homelessness, to the extent that strict compliance would prevent, hinder, or delay efforts to mitigate the shelter crisis. As a result of the shelter crisis, the City secured $2.2 million in state grant funds that allowed the City to: 1) create and operationalize the Housing Navigation Center and 2) repurpose the partially vacant Islander Motel for emergency shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The original resolution adopting the shelter crisis established that the declaration would end or “sunset” on September 30, 2024. The City did not extend the shelter crisis declaration prior to its expiration because there was no utility to doing so at that time. However, the release of Measure W funding presents a new opportunity to support key projects. Local Council Staff Report (ID # 5662) Meeting of March 10, 2026 Updated: 3/6/2026 9:02 AM by Dina Lewis B Page 2
jurisdictions including Oakland, Berkeley, and Hayward all have active local shelter crises or homeless emergency declarations that have aided their expedited mobilization of new resources. Although not in Alameda County, the City of San Jose also has an active declaration.
In 2024, the State of California Shelter Crisis Statute was extended to January 1, 2036, thus allowing cities to adopt longer-term shelter crisis declarations by local agencies. On December 16, 2025, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors took action to extend the shelter crisis in Alameda County until December 31, 2027.
Government Code section 8698 requires the City to find that a significant number of persons within the City are without the ability to obtain shelter, and that the situation has resulted in a threat to the health and safety of those persons. Staff believes the results of the 2024 Alameda County EveryOne Home Point-in-Time Count and Survey (PIT), conducted on January 25, 2024, meets that requirement. According to the PIT, 807 homeless individuals were living in Fremont as of January 30, 2024, out of a total homeless population in Alameda County of 9,747. Only 24 percent of those 807 individuals were sheltered. Fremont’s 2024 point-in-time count included approximately 48 children and 200 adults over 55. Unsheltered individuals are at higher risk of negative health and safety impacts, due to exposure to the elements, rapid aging, worsening of health conditions, and lack of security and access to hygiene facilities. A significant percentage of the City’s homeless population reported having physical and mental health problems, disabilities, or alcohol or drug addictions. In 2024, 29 Fremont residents died while living outside. A summary of the PIT is included as Informational 1.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the proposed resolution declaring a shelter crisis in the City of Fremont. The re-enactment of the shelter crisis declaration represents a set of tools that can be applied to support homeless residents without further Council action and would further the primary goals of Fremont’s Homelessness Response Plan. With the new release of Measure W funds, the City anticipates public and private investment in the expansion of emergency shelter and supportive housing to address homelessness on a long-term basis. Re-enactment of the shelter crisis would better position Fremont to secure additional project funding now (such as with Motel 6 South) and in the future.
As a technical instrument, a shelter crisis declaration enables a more flexible interpretation of standard building, planning and other requirements for emergency housing, potentially resulting in developing facilities that could not have been previously considered. Minimum health, safety and habitability standards will be maintained through the use of this authority. A declaration of this type does not mean a total suspension of standards but rather the ability to apply standards more flexibly or to establish alternative standards that meet minimum requirements. The minimum health and safety standards are included in Appendix Q of the Building Code and Appendix CJ of the Residential Code, but these only apply for the duration of a declared shelter crisis. The City Council would not review and approve projects that used this approach prior to implementation.
Although helpful in streamlining the creation of new facilities, Appendices Q and CJ still treat existing non-residential structures converted for use for emergency housing as changes in occupancy requiring compliance with current code requirements for residential use.
However, Section 108 of the 2016 Building Code gave the local building official discretion to Council Staff Report (ID # 5662) Meeting of March 10, 2026 Updated: 3/6/2026 9:02 AM by Dina Lewis B Page 3
allow temporary uses for up to 180 days without full code compliance (Section 108 in the 2025 Building Code provides the same discretion). In 2018, the City’s Fire and Building officials worked with the City Attorney’s Office to develop minimum local building and life safety standards for temporary use of existing public and private facilities for emergency housing. The draft resolution would re-adopt these same standards for temporary uses.
These standards may be applied to additional public facilities constructed or converted to use for emergency housing pursuant to Government Code Section 8698.1, and to new private facilities except where Appendices Q and CJ provide more restrictive standards.
In practical terms, this declaration will support regional partners’ Cardea Health and Abode Services as they have secured Measure W funding for an emergency shelter project at the Motel 6 South site in Fremont. This site has been considered and analyzed for homelessness response uses in the past. If the Council acts to declare a shelter crisis, the project could be completed more quickly by avoiding a more extensive review process. This action would underline Fremont’s seriousness about addressing its shelter crisis and, by making this project more viable and would assist our partners in safeguarding the project’s viability and Measure W funding. If the City of Fremont does not declare a shelter crisis, the Cardea Health/Abode project may be less immediately viable, and Fremont will likely be viewed as a less appealing partner for future regional projects.
If adopted by the Council, the proposed shelter crisis declaration would go into immediate effect. The proposed resolution states that the shelter crisis declaration would remain in effect until January 1, 2036, which aligns with the timeline for the State shelter crisis declaration. The City Council would review the declaration every two years to evaluate progress toward the goal of long-term solutions to homelessness. If desired by the Fremont City Council, the Shelter Crisis could be ended by a majority Council vote at any time.
FISCAL IMPACT: No direct impact on the general fund is anticipated. Declaration of a shelter crisis may make additional funding available to the City from the State and other sources and may provide a more cost-effective means to assist homeless individuals.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: Environmental review of any specific future emergency housing projects that might be facilitated by this action would be speculative at this time due to the absence of specific proposals for the development of emergency housing .
Moreover, there is nothing unusual about the proposed actions in terms of size, location, scope, or other circumstances that is expected to have a significant environmental effect.
Therefore, future individual projects (which currently are speculative in nature and undefined as to extent, timing and location) providing emergency housing are likely to be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 (Existing Facilities), 15303 (New Construction or Conversion of Small Structures), Section 15304 (Minor Alterations to Land), Section 15311 (Accessory Structures), Section 15332 (In Fill Development Projects), Section 15183 (projects consistent with General Plan or Zoning) and/or under the statutory CEQA exemption embodied in Government Code Section 8698.4(a)(4). Accordingly, the adoption of the proposed shelter crisis declaration is exempt from review under CEQA pursuant to, without limitation, CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(2), (b)(5) and/or 15061(b)(3), in that it is an administrative activity that can be seen with is not a project that may have a significant effect on the environment.
Council Staff Report (ID # 5662) Meeting of March 10, 2026 Updated: 3/6/2026 9:02 AM by Dina Lewis B Page 4
ATTACHMENTS:
• 2026.03.10 - Draft Resolution, Shelter Crisis Final
• Informational 1 - EveryOne Counts 2024 Point-in-Time Homelessness Count and Survey Summary for the City of Fremont
• Shelter Declaration Presentation 3.10.26
RECOMMENDATION:
1. Adopt a resolution declaring a shelter crisis and adopting minimum local building and life safety standards for temporary facilities and new public facilities used to provide emergency housing.
2. Find that the adoption of the proposed resolution and emergency declaration is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to, without limitation, CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(2), (b)(5) and/or 15061(b)(3), for the reasons described in this report.