San Mateo County pauses farmworker housing inspections

“You don’t want people to think we’re going to walk in and red tag things and fine everyone. That will lead to evictions and farmworkers left without housing, which is what we don’t want,” said Supervisor Ray Mueller, whose district includes much of the county’s coastal farm land.

The task force is roughly 40% through with its inspections, estimated Assistant County Executive Officer Justin Mates, but that work is being paused after officials learned some farmworkers are fearful they’ll be evicted and farm operators are worried they’ll be fined or face invasive inspections. 

Having heard concerns, the county will now host two meetings, one from 3-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9 at the Half Moon Bay Library and the other at 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, at the Pescadero High School multipurpose room. While some farmers have opted to delay their inspections, some have agreed to allow them to move forward, Mates said. 

“What we were hearing was there was a lot of concern, confusion, misunderstanding of what [the inspections] were and what [the task force crews] were doing on-site,” Mates said. “We wanted to provide a forum where folks can ask questions and learn more about what to expect.”

The task force is expected to reconvene its work following the community meetings. Once the inspections are complete, Mates said county staff plan to use that information to develop recommendations for how local resources can best be spent to support farmers in providing housing. At this time, farmers are not at risk of being fined and are not being required at this time to permit any units, Mates said. And depending on the level of work needed, Mates said operators are given a letter detailing how long they have to make the improvements.  

Rita Mancera, executive director of Puente de la Costa Sur, a Pescadero nonprofit serving farmworkers and immigrants along the coast, and Joaquin Jimenez, vice mayor of Half Moon Bay, said the issue of unsafe housing has been known for years. 

In some cases, farmworkers have feared asking for improvements because they didn’t want to be seen as difficult. In others, they’ve notified their landlord of problems and were ignored, Mancera and Jimenez said. Not all farmers have left their workers living in poor conditions, both noted, with Jimenez adding that some farmers may not have had the money needed to make requested improvements. 

A new focus

Greater focus is now being given to the quality of farmworker housing though after a mass shooting in January — which led to the deaths of seven mushroom farmworkers in Half Moon Bay — revealed how inhabitable some sites may be. 

Jimenez, Mates and Mancera said housing sites still in operation are nowhere near as uninhabitable as the two operated by Concord Farms and Terra California Garden. Now a few months into the county’s inspection, no site has been red tagged, meaning residents could continue to live in their homes while landlords make plans for improvements. Mates said more moderate improvements have been requested such as improving electrical and septic systems. 

As of last week, Mates said only one farm has indicated they will not be making the improvements requested of them by the county, displacing three households. It’s unclear how many individuals lived in each household or whether standard renter protections like an eviction notice and time to relocate will apply. 

Mancera and Jimenez said they were first concerned about the pause given that delays in inspections mean farmworkers will continue to live in poor conditions. But they also acknowledged the importance of hearing farmers out and said they were relieved to learn the delay was only temporary. 

Farmer struggles

Jimenez noted farmers are also struggling in the region. Crops took a hit last year, according to the county’s most recent agricultural report, first due to extended drought conditions and then historic winter flooding. Accessing needed crop starters have also been a challenge, according to the report, and there are fewer farmworkers in the region, Jimenez added. 

Both Jimenez and Mancera said they’ve been supportive of the county’s initiative from the start but Mancera also argued some recent concerns could have been addressed earlier on had the county listened to requests from her and others like her to work closely with the community before launching its inspections. 

The county did hold two community meetings specifically targeted toward farmworkers in late March and early April, Mancera said, noting the meetings helped farmworkers feel more comfortable with the inspections. But she said she would have liked to see county officials looping farmworkers into the process when developing the program earlier on.

“The best thing is when you speak with farmworkers directly. We’re the bridge but they don’t have to talk to us, speak directly to them,” Mancera said. “We all want to know what the process is going to be, that’s what’s going to make them feel at ease.” 

Long-term plans

Ultimately, more resources will be needed to solve the farmworker housing issue in the long term. While groups like Puente offer relocation assistance and other types of support, Mancera noted housing is limited and the units that are available are often outside their clients’ price range. Without more local assistance, families will be forced to relocate out of the county and away from the communities in which many have lived for decades, Mancera said. 

Jimenez noted the county has been investing into developing affordable housing on the coast specifically to serve farmworkers including in Half Moon Bay. Most recently, supervisors agreed to pay off a $3.2 million loan for Half Moon Bay to begin developing up to 50 detached manufactured homes at 880 Stone Pine Road, a city-owned property that has served as a corporate yard for the past 15 years. 

That project, which also received a $5 million grant through the Joe Serna Jr. Housing Grant program, would include for-sale homes for low-income earning farmworkers and those displaced from the mass shooting earlier this year would receive priority. 

“The county is coming with working solutions for housing,” Jimenez said. “We’re all working on solutions and that’s what I’m really glad is happening.” 

Visit smcgov.org/planning/farm-labor-housing-compliance to learn more about the Farm Labor Housing Compliance Taskforce and its work.