Introduction to the Issue
SALINAS, Calif. — Every year, farmers in this fertile valley dubbed the “salad bowl of the world” rely on tens of thousands of workers to harvest leafy greens and juicy strawberries. But with local farmworkers aging — and the Trump administration’s determined crackdown on the illegal workers who have long been the backbone of California’s agricultural workforce — more growers have been looking to legal channels to import foreign workers.
The H-2A Visa Program
Under the federal H-2A visa program, agricultural employers can hire workers from other countries on a temporary basis, so long as they show that they were unable to hire sufficient numbers of domestic workers. Employers are required to provide the guest workers with housing, food and transportation.
Housing Crisis in Monterey County
But in Monterey County, one of the more expensive regions in the nation, the obligation to provide an exploding number of guest workers with suitable housing was exacerbating a regional affordable housing crisis. Growers and labor contractors were buying up single-family homes and motels — often the residence of last resort for people on the verge of homelessness — making housing even more scarce for low-wage workers living in the region year-round.
Migrant workers, hired through Fresh Harvest, pick romaine lettuce in King City.
Private Investment in Housing Facilities
For some large farming companies in the county, the solution has been to privately fund the construction of new housing facilities for H-2A workers. Since 2015, local growers have invested their own capital and often their own land to build at least eight housing complexes for thousands of guest workers.
These are not akin to the crude barracks used to house the Mexican guest workers known as braceros decades ago, nor are they the broken-down trailers associated with abuses of the H-2A program. Rather, many of the new housing developments here are built along the lines of modern multi-family townhomes, outfitted with recreational areas and laundry facilities. County leaders, eager to support the agricultural industry and increase the overall housing supply, have thrown their support behind the effort, expediting the permitting processes for such developments.
Community Concerns
Some community members are skeptical of this approach. Neighbors have raised concerns about the impacts of building large housing developments primarily for single men. Some advocates say it is a grave injustice that growers are building housing for foreign guest workers, while farmworkers who settled in the region years ago often persist in substandard and overcrowded buildings.
Israel Francisco, with sons Gael and Elias, is among the longtime farmworkers in Monterey County who crowd into homes with extended family and roommates because of the lack of affordable housing.
Advocates’ Views
“The growers are building housing for H-2A workers, because they have the power, because they have the land, and because they have the money,” said Nidia Soto, an organizer with Building Healthy Communities Monterey County.
Domestic farmworkers — many of whom emigrated decades ago, started families and put down roots — don’t directly benefit from that development, she said: “Even though they are breaking their backs every day to bring food to the table, they are not worthy of housing.”
County Supervisor’s View
County Supervisor Luis Alejo agreed there is a dire need for more affordable housing for local farmworkers, but called the grower-funded H-2A housing developments a “win-win for the community.”
“When we’re providing housing for H-2A workers, it is not exacerbating the housing crisis elsewhere in our community,” he said.
Undocumented Workers
A key issue in the discussion is that many of the longtime farmworkers who live in Monterey County are in the U.S. without authorization, as is true across California. At least half of the estimated 255,700 farmworkers in California are undocumented, according to UC Merced research.
Trump Administration’s Impact
With the Trump administration’s focus on upending America’s immigration system and deporting undocumented immigrants, California growers are scrambling to stabilize their labor supply through legal avenues such as the H-2A visa program.
Concerns About the H-2A Program
For years, farmworker advocates have voiced concerns about the H-2A program, saying it is ripe for exploitation because a worker’s permission to be in the country is tied to the employer. And, as long as their labor supply was sufficient, many growers were reluctant to scale up the program, because it requires them to invest in federally compliant housing and, in many cases, to pay higher wages to meet a federal requirement of nearly $20 an hour.
Solution for the Rest of the State?
Could Monterey County offer a solution for the rest of the state?
Tanimura & Antle’s Project
In 2015, Tanimura & Antle, one of the region’s largest agricultural companies, recruited Avila Construction Co. to build housing for 800 H-2A workers in the community of Spreckels outside Salinas.
The grower wanted the project built within one year, which was “kind of unheard of,” because getting housing approved that quickly was nearly impossible, according to Mike Avila, the construction company owner. But Tanimura & Antle faced a dire situation: They couldn’t hire a stable domestic workforce, and risked having crops go unharvested if they didn’t invest in a plan to hire guest workers.
Fresh Harvest’s Approach
Steve Scaroni, right, founder of Fresh Harvest, speaks with foreman Javier Patron, as workers line up to wash their hands before going back to work harvesting lettuce in King City.
Some agricultural employers have had to get creative to meet the housing requirements.
Fresh Harvest houses anywhere between 5,000 and 6,000 guest workers across the U.S. But one of Scaroni’s favorite projects is in King City in a shuttered tomato packaging plant that sat empty until he asked officials about converting it into farmworker housing in 2016.
Model Housing for H-2A Workers
After a day of work, migrant farmworkers return to a housing complex for H-2A guest workers in the city of Greenfield in Monterey County.
The number of H-2A visas certified for Monterey County has ballooned since that first grower-funded housing development went up.
The federal Labor Department certified more than 8,100 H-2A visas for the county in 2023, a nearly 60% increase from 2018, according to a report from the UC Davis Labor and Community Center of the Greater Capital Region. Compared with other California counties, Monterey had the highest number of visa certifications by several thousand.
Migrant workers, hired through Fresh Harvest, harvest and bag romaine lettuce in King City.
Impact on Local Communities
Migrant workers relax in the community room at a converted H-2A housing site operated by Fresh Harvest in King City. The site features dormitory-style rooms that sleep up to 14 workers.
Fresh Harvest converted a tomato packaging plant in Monterey County into clean, livable housing for about 360 migrant farmworkers.
Ongoing Housing Crisis
Even as Monterey County celebrates its successes in building model housing for H-2A guest workers, housing for the thousands of longtime farm laborers who are not part of the visa program continues to stagnate.
A 2018 report from the California Institute for Rural Studies found communities across the Salinas Valley in Monterey County and Pajaro Valley in neighboring Santa Cruz County needed more than 45,000 new units of housing to alleviate critical overcrowding in farmworker households. But building such developments without grower investment requires local governments to cobble together financing, which can be difficult for rural communities.
Conclusion
The issue of housing for farmworkers in Monterey County is complex and multifaceted. While the construction of new housing facilities for H-2A workers is a step in the right direction, it does not address the underlying issue of affordable housing for local farmworkers. It is essential to find a solution that benefits both H-2A workers and local farmworkers, ensuring that all workers have access to safe and affordable housing.
FAQs
Q: What is the H-2A visa program?
A: The H-2A visa program allows agricultural employers to hire workers from other countries on a temporary basis, as long as they show that they were unable to hire sufficient numbers of domestic workers.
Q: What are the requirements for H-2A workers’ housing?
A: Employers are required to provide H-2A workers with housing, food, and transportation.
Q: How many H-2A visas were certified for Monterey County in 2023?
A: The federal Labor Department certified more than 8,100 H-2A visas for the county in 2023, a nearly 60% increase from 2018.
Q: What is the main concern of farmworker advocates regarding the H-2A program?
A: Farmworker advocates are concerned that the H-2A program is ripe for exploitation because a worker’s permission to be in the country is tied to the employer.
Q: How many farmworkers in California are estimated to be undocumented?
A: At least half of the estimated 255,700 farmworkers in California are undocumented, according to UC Merced research.
