Farmworker Housing

The Farmworker Housing Action Plan identifies specific needs, barriers, and solutions identified to address the farmworker housing crisis. In December of 2016, an analysis of existing databases concluded that there are 91,433 employed agricultural workers in the Salinas and Pajaro Valleys.

In 2017, a survey revealed that approximately 40% of farmworker respondents live in houses, 30% in apartments, 19% live in rented rooms without kitchens, and 12% live in other types of dwellings such as motels, boarding houses, or barracks. 89% of farmworkers were renters and 11% were owners where one quarter owned mobile homes. The survey found that a significant number of households comprised of unrelated farmworkers who cohabitate due to housing costs and supply. 93% of farmworker households in the survey exceeded the standard of one person per bedroom living with more than two people per bedroom and five people per bathroom.  In fact, about 16% of farmworkers do not even sleep in a bedroom. Extreme conditions of overcrowding were identified in the Study. To alleviate overcrowding and provide the necessary workforce housing, it was estimated that an additional 47,937 are needed. 

The study also uncovered that the biggest housing need is permanent year-round farmworker. Eighty (80%) of the farmworkers in the region are residents with families and are struggling with growing housing costs. Only 20% or 18,300 farmworkers are considered migrant and temporarily in the area for seasonal work. Of the 18,300 migrant workers, 4,600 are H-2A visa workers. Because growers are required to provide housing for H-2A workers, much of the housing focus has been on this population. More recently, labor contractors have purchased existing housing for this population and in some cases, displaced our residents who are farmworkers. Moving forward, it is critical that we collaborate with labor contractors and agricultural producers on construction of affordable housing for our farmworker families as this in the long run will help stabilize the agricultural workforce.

In addition to the Study, CIRS and CCRH collaborated with the Oversight Committee to draft an Action Plan.  Ultimately, the goal of the Action Plan is to “Make available 5,300 permanent, affordable housing units over the next five years to stabilize the agriculture workforce in the Salinas and Pajaro Valley Region.” The Action Plan is split into four categories with different objectives and actions in order to achieve the goal stated. In total, there are 57 actions. 

Housing Types

The objective for the Housing Types is to “Promote alternative farmworker housing tenure and development prototypes that have worked in Monterey Bay Region, California, and other parts of the region”. This category contains actions that focus on aspects of housing that the City can explore when developing farmworker housing. There are 11 actions in this category. For example, Action “H4 Accessory Units” addresses the potential of developing Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) and reducing the cost of fees and establishing financing avenues.

Suitable Sites

The objective for Suitable Sites is to “Collaborate among jurisdictions to identify appropriate locations for farmworker housing within cities and unincorporated counties to facilitate development of farmworker housing”.  This category deals with many processes such as zoning, mapping, and land use. The City is currently working on “Map Sites” to identify appropriate sites for farmworker housing in collaboration with Monterey County and other local jurisdictions. The City’s GIS department along with the County of Monterey have produced maps with possible sites for permanent affordable and migrant farmworker housing.

Financing

Financing has two objectives to “Proactively pursue and leverage governmental and non-governmental funds to increase the inventory of farmworker housing”; and “capitalize on existing regional and local housing trust funds and create new local funding sources for the construction, rehabilitation, acquisition, and operation of farmworker housing”. This category discusses funding and financing for farmworker housing. On the November 2018 ballot is Prop 1, the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act. Passage of this bond measure could provide a critical funding source for farmworker housing and will be important for the City to support.

Regulatory Reform

The objective for Regulatory Reform is to “Change regulations to remove barriers, streamline processing, and reduce costs for the development of farmworker housing”. This category emphasizes updating outdated restrictions, reforming zoning, and adopting ordinances to make developing farmworker housing a streamlined process. For example, Action “R5 Priority Processing” identifies the priority processing of permanent farmworker housing projects.  

Farmworker Housing Action Plan for Salinas Valley and Pajaro Valley - Final June 2018(PDF, 35MB)

Infographics(PDF, 943KB)