Community Benefits Agreement Campaign in Fremont

In 2013, Urban Habitat partnered with Congregations Organizing for Renewal (COR) to make sure the redevelopment of the 800+ acre Warm Springs site, home to a new BART station which opened in 2017, served the City’s moderate and low-income residents.

The redevelopment of Warm Springs provides an opportunity to make up for many lost years. Residents of Fremont achieved a significant victory in November 2015 with the signing of a community benefits agreement between COR and Lennar Homes of California. The agreement marked a major milestone in the long campaign waged by the Residents Insisting on Social Equity for Fremont coalition (RISE), which includes COR and Urban Habitat, to win community benefits as part of the development around the new BART station at Warm Springs. The site, located adjacent to Tesla Motors, is planned to eventually include a mixed-use, commercial, residential, and light industrial development and will eventually include approximately 4,000 new homes.

The agreement between Lennar and COR, with COR represented by the Law Office of Julian Gross, provided $70,000 per year over five years to Fremont residents for job training in the construction and non-construction sectors, and includes an outreach program to local residents for the on-site affordable housing. The CBA also provides additional community oversight and certainty regarding the full package of community benefits negotiated by the city for this project – giving the community a direct role in ensuring delivery of community benefits over the life of the project.