Assembly Panel OKs Funds for North County Migrant Worker Housing

An Assembly committee approved legislation Wednesday that would provide seed money to build housing for as many as 500 farm workers now homeless in North County.

The Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee voted 6 to 1 for the bill, which would allot $500,000 in state funds for the project. The measure, by Assemblyman Robert Frazee (R-Carlsbad), now goes to the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

The bill, if approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. George Deukmejian, would require San Diego County or the city in which the housing is built to contribute part of the project’s cost.

No Position by Governor

Deukmejian, who in recent years has blocked similar attempts to fund public housing for San Diego’s migrant workers, has no position on the bill, a spokesman said.

Frazee said the housing is desperately needed because migrant workers continue to live in caves and makeshift shelters throughout North County. Many of the worker camps are within sight of some of the county’s most expensive suburban housing developments.

Frazee told committee members that migrant workers are different from the urban homeless--and more deserving of public assistance--because they generally hold jobs and pay taxes.

“These people are economic contributors to our communities,” Frazee said. “But in an area of very high-cost housing, they are just unable to find any kind of suitable housing.”

Fee Waiver Required

The bill would require the Housing and Community Development Department to assist in the financing, development and operation of as many as 500 housing units in the county. The measure also would require the county or the city in which the housing is located to waive all fees associated with the project or pay 25% of the project’s cost, whichever is greater.

The local contribution could include the value of the land, which would probably be donated by a North County farmer.

Mark Brown, a lobbyist for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, which is backing the bill, said the $500,000 would be “a pittance.” But he said the money could be used to obtain as much as $3 million from the federal government.

Combined, the state and federal funds would be enough to build dormitory-style housing for about 100 workers, Brown said. He estimated that 15,000 North County field workers are without homes.

“The governor has been sloughing the problem off, hoping that it will go away,” Brown said. “He is going to look for every reason in the world not to fund this. Our job is to create every reason in the world for him to sign it.”

Housing Centers Elsewhere

But Julie Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Housing and Community Development Department, said the Administration has not funded migrant housing in San Diego to date because the county has not identified land for such a center or agreed to operate one. The department has developed 25 migrant housing centers elsewhere in the state, mostly in the Salinas area and in the Central Valley.

“We are certainly willing to assist in any way we can,” Stewart said. “The office of Migrant Services works on a cooperative basis. The state has funds for the units, provided the land can be located and the local housing authority runs the center.”

Even without the Frazee bill, she said, San Diego will probably be in a good position to fight for a share of $10 million for migrant housing that was part of Proposition 84, a bond issue approved by the voters last year.

“You look at San Diego, and you can see there is a tremendous need, and there isn’t any (state-funded housing) existing there currently,” she said. “You obviously are going to look at where the need is the greatest. Provided they meet the requirements, I’d say their chances for competing for that money are pretty good.”