What Farm Workers Need Is a Long-Term Housing Solution

Periodically, the plight of farm workers, especially migrants, is brought to the public’s attention with great force. Such has been the case at Valle Verde, a Carlsbad encampment that is being torn down by order of the county Department of Health Services.

Living there and in other North County camps--in “spider holes” or shacks made of sticks, cardboard boxes, plastic bags and twine--are farm workers whose literally backbreaking labor helps return millions of dollars in agricultural profits.

Such pockets of misery can be found throughout California’s farmlands, but North County--from North City West up to Rainbow and across to Pauma Valley--is incomparable in terms of sheer numbers of homeless workers and the stunning juxtaposition of mansions and hovels.

Moreover, nowhere else in the state--and perhaps even the country--do the living conditions of farm workers so consistently outdo those exposed in Edward R. Murrow’s classic “Harvest of Shame” broadcast nearly 30 years ago.

Although brutal awareness of this problem alone will not resolve it, publicity can help create a political atmosphere in which positive steps can be taken.

Valle Verde cries out for short-term solutions, such as emergency shelter for those displaced. It also raises questions about the county’s role in aggravating an already critical situation by triggering mass evictions from relatively isolated encampments unlikely to pose an immediate threat to the larger community’s health.

However, Valle Verde also underscores the need to build decent and affordable farm-worker housing. Two North County realities serve to drive home the inescapable need for this long-term solution.

One is that the majority of North County’s farm workers now have temporary work permits and are on their way to obtaining permanent residency. Increasingly, their families are following them here. The U. S. Border Patrol itself calculates that documented laborers make up about 65% of the migrant work force. Living in encampments can no longer be dismissed as a deliberate choice by workers who need to “hide out.” The truth is that these minimum-wage (at best), seasonal and often underemployed workers simply cannot afford the area’s high rents--much less the many deposits that renting entails.

The other fact is that, despite the heavy pressures of urbanization, agriculture is here to stay. For the foreseeable future, the year-round demand for agricultural laborers will remain fairly stable. It may come as a big surprise that San Diego County ranks 12th among California’s 58 counties in volume of agricultural production--having recently raised its standing from 13th.

According to state Department of Food and Agriculture reports, the production of highly labor-intensive crops has increased markedly over the past 15 years. Only vegetable production experienced a decline, of 20%. Strawberry production has doubled. Avocado acreage has nearly tripled and citrus acreage has expanded 18%. Nursery crop production has grown so much that San Diego County is now the state’s leading producer of horticultural products.

Data from the San Diego Assn. of Governments suggest that agricultural employment will remain essentially unchanged through the year 2010 (the farthest date of projection). A study commissioned by my organization, California Rural Legal Assistance, examined crop acreage due for development and expects only an 8% reduction in agricultural employment for the foreseeable future. If forecasts on the growth in demand for horticultural products are correct, such employment may actually increase.

To put this into some perspective, the most conservative estimates--based only on wages paid subject to withholding and Social Security taxes--is that, in any given month, San Diego County employs about 11,400 workers in agriculture.

What this adds up to is: San Diego County will continue to have many agricultural workers, most of whom will not earn enough to secure decent and affordable housing.

The first concrete step toward providing that housing these workers need has been taken by Assemblyman Robert C. Frazee (R-Carlsbad), who is reintroducing a bill to provide state seed money for the construction of a 500-unit migrant-labor center. Under the Frazee bill, the remaining money must come from other sources, such as the federal government (the Farmers Home Administration, for example), local government (such as funds from redevelopment and community development block grants) and private sources.

The state has built 26 migrant labor centers in 14 counties to house farm workers and their families at subsidized rates of $2 to $4 a day. Typically, growers or local governments donated the land.

None of the centers is south of Kern County. Such lopsided distribution is largely the result of resistance from local governments. For instance, the less-than-eager reception given last year by San Diego County to a similar bill provided the governor with a “lack-of-local-support” excuse to kill it. A couple of years ago, through the efforts of Assemblyman Bill Bradley (R-Escondido), $1.4 million was made available for a farm labor center here. The funds were lost to Riverside County because of little interest on the part of San Diego County’s Department of Housing and Community Development.

A migrant labor center only begins to touch the need. There are many other efforts that can be launched at the same time--ranging from the rehabilitation of badly substandard houses and trailers in grower-owned farm labor camps, to the construction of “self-help” homes for year-round workers for whom subsidized homeownership is feasible. These are the subjects of a working group of county and city representatives recently convened by Frazee.

To find lasting solutions, it will take a united commitment by the county and cities. This is also an opportunity for agribusiness, nonprofit developers and local lending institutions to join in.

If there is not a failure of will, solutions are possible.