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Chapter 7: Income <br />Workforce development, job creation and placement are all the more critical given welfare <br />reforms now taking place. Key public benefits serving needy people in Alameda County are <br />Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and General Assistance (GA). TANF is for - <br />families only and is also time restricted, barring receipt for more than two consecutive years <br />for most families and with alife-time five year limit. In 1996, the TANF benefit was cut to <br />$594 per month for a family of four. The General Assistance benefit available to single adults <br />was recently reduced to $221 per month. As of March 1996, there were a total of 113,057 <br />Alameda County residents receiving TANF or GA, including 68,040 children. While the full <br />impact of TANF changes is not yet certain, many recipients, including large numbers of <br />immigrants, will have their benefits either reduced, time limited, or eliminated. <br />Simultaneously, GA benefits are being reduced to three months out of the year for those not in <br />approved job training, placement, or work activities. Persons unable to work due to disability _ <br />may receive Supplemental Security income (SSI). However, with the elimination of substance <br />abuse as a basis for receiving SSI, as many as 2,600 county residents have already lost that <br />benefit. __ <br />With such major reductions to public benefits, Alameda County homelessness threatens to _ <br />increase unless people really can get trained for, and employed in, good jobs. At the same <br />time, significant numbers of those who cannot work or find a job will need to continue to <br />receive or obtain income supports at a level high enough to survive. The following lays out a _ <br />plan to begin to achieve these goals. <br />Recommendations <br />Incomes and Employment recommendations are grouped under the following topics: <br />• Income Supports <br />• Workforce Development <br />• Hiring Incentives and Job Creation <br />• Economic Development _ <br />First Year Goals <br />• Maintain existing homeless enterprises established to train and employ homeless <br />people. Support them by providing appropriate sole source local government contracts _ <br />for goods and services they provide. <br />Alameda County-Wide Homeless Continuum of Care Plan: April 1997 <br />92 <br />