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Chapter 7: Income INCOMES AND EMPLOYMENT Introduction Incomes for most homeless people and those at risk of homelessness are usually woefully inadequate for meeting basic needs, especially housing. Whether from work or public benefits, the income of poor people has not kept pace with the cost of living for the past two decades. As a result, the ability to remain housed for poor households has been significantly undermined. For example, to make cone-bedroom apartment affordable according to HUD standards at the average rent in Alameda County of $651 per month, a person would need to earn a full time hourly wage of $12.51 per hour, or three minimum wage jobs. As many as 120,000 Alameda County households survive on less than the equivalent of 50% of the area median income; of those 66,000 households are at only 30% of area median income. For people in the county who are working at low paid jobs, unemployed, or living on public benefits, it is very difficult to remain housed. Reducing homelessness in this environment requires assisting those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to access jobs with wages that pay enough to cover real living costs. This is particularly difficult in an economic environment characterized by restructuring, "downsizing," and technological change. In order to compete in today's evolving job market, many homeless people need job training or re-training, followed by aggressive placement into "living wage" jobs, sometimes created specifically for them. Moreover, due to their unique circumstances training and placement for homeless people must also be matched by basic services such as appropriate clothing and literacy training, as well as more intensive services such as child care, ongoing job mentorship, counseling and substance abuse treatment. Homeless families not only need job assistance for the adult wage earner(s) but for the family members as well as the households transitions to work and its demands. Perhaps the most critical matching need is housing; it is difficult to imagine successfully completing job training while living on the street. One of the myths that continues to exist regarding homeless people and those on welfare is that they do not want to work. Studies suggest the opposite: Most homeless people wish to work, and despite the difficulty of holding down a job with no home, many do. According to HomeBase's 1994 report, Homelessness in the Bay Area, 14-22 % of homeless people in the Bay Area work. This number is similar to the U.S. Conference of Mayors finding in 1996 that 19% of homeless people in America's cities work. Lack of adequate income to pay rent from a job was the reported cause of homelessness for 22% of ESN survey respondents in 1994. Alameda County-Wide Homeless Continuum of Care Plan: April 1997 91