Farm Workers Get Housing Funds : Emergency aid: Those affected by the freeze that devastated crops will be eligible for assistance with mortgages and rents.

Ventura County farm workers facing economic hardships from a freeze that destroyed crops last winter will be greatly aided by a federal plan announced Wednesday to help them pay mortgages on their homes and rents on their apartments, local experts said.

“This is going to come with a sigh of relief that something is finally addressing this area,” said Larry McGuire, assistant director of the Center for Employment Training in Oxnard. The center has provided emergency aid, such as food deliveries, to local farm workers since January.

A major disaster declaration issued by President Bush in February had set aside federal funding giving unemployment aid to farm workers and providing emergency loans for farm owners. But on Wednesday, Bush approved a plan to include housing assistance for affected farm workers in 33 counties, including Ventura, White House officials said.

Illegal aliens seeking residence in the United States will also be eligible for the aid, authorities said. The location of centers to apply for the assistance will be announced shortly.

Some experts have estimated that 3,000 to 5,000 of the 13,000 farm workers in Ventura County were left unemployed by the freeze, said Shirley Ortiz, director of the Center for Employment Training. But, she said, she believes those figures are conservative.

Ventura was subjected to one of the worst freezes in more than 50 years when a Dec. 21 chill sent temperatures plummeting to 15 degrees in some county orchards.

The freeze ruined 50%, or $27-million worth, of the county’s avocado crop. About 35%, or $57 million of lemons were destroyed. And 35%, or $21 million, of Valencia oranges were wiped out, said Jim Fullmer, deputy agricultural commissioner of the county. The freeze also affected a smaller percentage of strawberries and other commodities, authorities said.

Many farm workers live in the county permanently and rely on heavy harvest seasons to make enough money to pay their rents or mortgages for the year, McGuire said.

People who live in the Santa Paula and Piru areas, where citrus crops were wiped out, have been seriously affected, McGuire said.

“It’s just sickening to see what’s happened to the trees out there,” McGuire said. “They would be in full harvest right now and they are 100% down in that neck of the woods.”

Also affected are the people who pack lemons and those who drive trucks to deliver them. Many farm workers who still have jobs in the county are working only two or three hours a day rather than full eight-hour schedules, authorities said.

Therefore, the help will be useful in encouraging Ventura County workers to remain in the area, where they will eventually be needed for future harvests, said Ellen Brokaw, co-owner of Brokaw Nursery in Saticoy and owner of several avocado orchards.

“The farmers themselves are very anxious not to have their work force leave the area so this is real good news that this program is coming through,” she said.

However, the new funds will not help everyone, officials said.

Illegal aliens who have not applied for amnesty will not be able to collect money, officials said. In addition, many farm workers may have difficulty providing proof that they are paying rent because they are living in houses not zoned for rentals, authorities said.