Measure A1 report: county says local-hire goals exceeded, staff flags enforcement gaps on referral process

County staff told the Procurement and Contracting Policy Committee on Sept. 15 that Measure A1-funded affordable housing projects exceeded established local-hire and equity-priority targets during the reporting period through Dec. 31, 2024.

Anna Olivia Eldred, labor- and contract-compliance lead in the Housing and Community Development Department, reported that Alameda County committed funds to 53 projects. The Measure A1 Labor Compliance Pilot Program recorded about 4.5 million construction job hours during the reporting window and more than 33,200 construction jobs to date. Eldred said Measure A1 projects achieved 43.5% of hours worked by Alameda County residents — surpassing the 30% local-hire goal — and that 21% of hours were performed by equity-priority workers, well above the 5% target.

Eldred cautioned that ethnicity data are self‑reported and available only for workers who elected to provide it (about 90% of workers). Using that data, staff compared the project workforce with the county labor pool and found higher representation of Hispanic or Latino and Black or African American workers on Measure A1 projects. She also presented tables showing that county residents hold a higher share of hours relative to positions in most demographic groups, which staff interpret as evidence of more sustainable employment for local workers.

The presentation noted that projects subject to private Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) — those with 80 or more new units — displayed broadly similar patterns of local and equity-priority hire, though county staff do not monitor private PLA adherence. Eldred told supervisors that four completed projects and one project in construction during the reporting period had PLA coverage. She said staff are working with organized labor and apprenticeship partners to expand pre‑apprenticeship pipelines and to update the county’s referral process for non‑PLA projects.

Supervisors asked when fuller data from the City of Oakland would be integrated; Eldred said differences in how Oakland records apprenticeship stages and other fields mean historical reconstruction is not always possible and that some data gaps will persist until systems are aligned. Staff set the next reporting cutoff at June 30, 2025, with further updates to follow.

The committee praised the Measure A1 outcomes but pressed staff to shore up apprenticeship transitions from pre‑apprenticeship to journey-level status and to propose concrete enforcement or incentive options for referral compliance on non‑PLA projects. Eldred said staff will continue discussions with trades and the construction trades workforce initiative and return with recommendations as conversations progress.

The committee took no formal vote on the report; the item concluded with no public speakers for this agenda item.