I hope the Op-Ed promoting homes for farmworkers sparks a deep conversation regarding our government’s roll in providing housing (“Let’s house our farmworkers” in the May 13 edition of the Daily Journal). The statement the writer made that “housing is a human right,” gave me pause. Is housing a right? For whom? Who pays? All of our government agencies, be they local, state or federal, are deeply in arrears. Programs for the needy are being eliminated. Schools are being closed. There is no surplus money to fund housing.
The folks who pick our vegetables deserve a decent place to live, but so do those who work in the grocery stores and restaurants. Many are paying over half their income on rent. Don’t they have a right to subsidized housing? They are helping to feed us too. The problem doesn’t stop at those in the food industry. Affordable housing is our No.1 problem. Ironically the farmworkers are the easiest group to house. Traditionally, they were provided a place to live on the farm. Problem was, many were below standard. Those should have been condemned and the farmers forced to bring in trailers until they built proper dwellings. If we paid a buck more for lettuce, so be it. We don’t need to scrap our zoning laws and spend millions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize the farmers. I appreciate the members of the Planning Commission and City Council following protocols and not caving to the bullying from the governor and special interests. I also find it distasteful but not surprising, that the unrelated tragedy was used to push this agenda.
We do need to find a holistic solution to the housing affordability problem that is fair to all. The sooner, the better.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.