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Housing Element (2023–2031)
An eight-year plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community
Under State law, all local governments in California are required to adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community by adopting a Housing Element as part of their General Plan. State law also requires that local governments update their Housing Elements every eight years to periodically address the changing housing needs of their communities, establish action plans to meet those goals, and report on progress toward meeting those goals.
The City of Fremont updated its Housing Element in early 2023 to plan for the housing needs for the next eight-year planning period (2023–2031).
The 2023–2031 Housing Element includes the following:
- A detailed analysis of Fremont's demographic, economic, and housing characteristics
- A comprehensive analysis of constraints to producing and preserving housing
- A review of the City’s progress in implementing housing policies and programs from the previous Housing Element
- An identification of goals, objectives, and policies, in addition to a full list of programs that will implement the vision of the plan
- A list of sites that could accommodate new housing, demonstrating the City’s ability to meet its Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA)
Fremont’s assigned share of the region’s housing need for the next eight years is almost 13,000 new residential units, over 7,000 of which are intended to be affordable. In 2022 alone, the City permitted 1,133 housing units, including 298 affordable units. An additional 947 units of affordable housing are currently under construction or in early phases of the development pipeline in Fremont.
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Housing Element Update Interest List
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Housing Element Content
Housing Element Sites Inventory
One of the key components of the Housing Element is the Sites Inventory. The Sites Inventory identifies and analyzes specific areas of land (sites) that are available and suitable for residential development. The purpose of the Sites Inventory is to determine the City’s capacity to accommodate residential development and reconcile that capacity with the City’s Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA).
For the eight-year time frame (2023–2031) covered by the current Housing Element, Fremont’s RHNA is 12,897 units. Of the 12,897 units, 60% are designated for very low-income, low-income, and moderate-income affordability levels.
Per "Implementation Program 40 of Fremont’s Housing Element," the information on this page is intended to promote the inventory of vacant and underutilized opportunity sites for residential development. As part of the Housing Element update, City staff analyzed sites in all geographic areas of the city for the potential to provide new housing during the 2023–2031 planning period. Sites were reviewed parcel by parcel, utilizing local knowledge and a variety of data sources.
The assessment of whether a site was “available” for housing development considered factors such as physical features, location, and competitiveness for affordable housing funding.
Sites Inventory Table and Maps
The following table and maps include a list of land that is available and suitable for residential development. The inventory includes information about the size, zoning, and potential development capacity of each site. The inventory also includes information about the existing uses, development and market trends, and incentives as factors that may affect a site’s development potential.
For more information or questions, contact the City's Planning Division at 510-494-4440 or by email.
Assembly Bill 2011 & Senate Bill 6
To facilitate housing production, the State has passed two related pieces of regulation that permit residential development on eligible sites currently zoned to allow office, retail, or parking as principally permitted uses, without a rezoning. Both bills became operative on July 1, 2023 and have a sunset date of January 1, 2033.
Assembly Bill 2011 (AB 2011)—also known as the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022—provides a ministerial, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)-exempt approval process for eligible mixed-income and 100% affordable multifamily housing developments that pay prevailing wages.
Senate Bill 6 (SB 6)—also known as the Middle Class Housing Act of 2022—allows for multifamily and mixed-use housing developments that comply with prevailing wages for workers and "skilled and trained workforce" requirements.
These bills contain certain locational criteria that projects must meet in order to qualify; not all properties that currently allow office, retail, or parking as a principally permitted use would be eligible.
The maps linked below represent a best effort at site identification using AB 2011/SB 6 eligibility criteria. Please refer to the full text from AB 2011 and SB 6 to determine if a site is eligible. A site that has been identified on this map as potentially eligible under AB 2011/SB 6 is not a guarantee that the site qualifies. A specific site analysis will need to be completed by the project applicant to determine if a site is eligible for housing under AB 2011/SB 6. Note that this map incorporates AB 2243 (2024), which amended portions of AB 2011 (2022) and SB 6 (2022).
For more information or questions, contact the City's Planning Division at 510-494-4440 or by email.