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Chapter 7: Income Work with county operated and funded programs including GAIN, Cal-Learn, Refuge Employment Services (RES) and Targeted Assistance Program (TAP) which are not targeted exclusively to homeless people to provide a similar range of support services to homeless clients coupled with training and placement activities. Ensure that no homeless person is cut off of TANF or GA without receiving needed support services matched to their training and placement activities. Topic 3 Hiring Incentives and Job Creation Even with skills and support, homeless people must compete with others in need for a limited pool of jobs. In order to increase the jobs available to homeless persons, hiring homeless and formerly homeless workers must be made attractive to existing employers, and ultimately, new jobs must be developed. The current welfare reform implementation debate includes a great deal of discussion on the value of incentives and set-asides in the private labor market for low- income people losing benefits. Homeless people should be included, and given special consideration in these programs. This Plan also looks to public and non-profit sector jobs as other avenues for homeless employment. • Advocate for the adoption by public, private, and nonprofit employers of homeless and welfare-to-work hiring targets or preferences and fast source hiring agreements. Action Steps - Provide training and technical assistance, coordinated with HUD, to assist all affected contractors to comply with Section 3 of the HUD Act, which requires all contractors on certain federally-funded construction sites to make training and jobs available to homeless and very low income people. - Mount a public education campaign to publicizing the employment needs of homeless people, and encouraging the voluntary adoption by all private and nonprofit employers of a homeless hiring target. The campaign should educate employers about federal and state tax breaks available for hiring homeless and very low income people. - Hold periodic homeless job fairs in each part of the county to increase employment of homeless people, and to help employers meet their homeless hiring targets. Ensure homeless people have information about, and transportation to, existing job fairs. - Expand homeless union membership by encouraging trade union outreach to homeless people. Alameda County-Wide Homeless Continuum of Care Plan: April 1997 97