New Washington state survey emphasizes need for housing
Written by barb howe Tuesday, 19 August 2008 08:11
They labor in fields and packing houses far from the public eye. They often live in poverty and deplorable housing conditions. The work is long, hard and dangerous. They don't enjoy the same protections other workers have taken for granted since the 1930s.For decades, various studies and journalistic exposés have tried to provide answers: what is life like for people who do farmwork?
Now the Washington State Farmworker Housing Trust has added another compelling chapter to the story with A Sustainable Bounty: Investing in Our Agricultural Future. It's the largest direct survey of farmworkers in Washington state history. Here are some highlights:
- "Seventy-nine percent are permanent Washington residents and 70% don’t travel away from home for work."
- "More than three-quarters of the farmworkers surveyed live with their families and nearly 60% have children in their home."
- "Forty-four percent pay more than 30% of their income for housing costs, 36% report housing problems, 32% are overcrowded and 6% are homeless."
- "Although half of the survey respondents are uncertain how much longer they will continue working in agriculture or plan to find other employment within a year, 91% said that more and better housing would encourage them to continue working in Washington agriculture."
There is a crisis in housing for farmworkers in this country. There is not enough housing. Much of the housing is decrepit. Most farmworkers are being paid too little to afford to rent or buy decent housing. The problem is especially bad for migrating workers who are harvesting crops in geographic areas far from their usual home. Government must expand farmworkers’ housing.
The Housing Trust was founded in 2003 with the mission to "create a better and more sustainable agricultural community in Washington State by securing and investing resources to address the full spectrum of housing and related needs of farmworkers in [Washington] state." The survey asked workers about their current living conditions and what they would like to change about their housing situation. It also covered health topics and civic engagement (One particularly interesting question asked workers if they or a member of their family had been exposed to pesticides but did not seek medical treatment, what symptoms of pesticide exposure they had experienced and why they did not seek treatment for it.)
We should all know by now that the human cost of U.S. agriculture is heartbreakingly high. It is unconscionable that we so complacently accept this price paid by our sisters and brothers doing farmwork. We need real policy solutions to give agricultural workers the dignity and respect they deserve.
Hopefully the survey is an important step towards that end.
For additional information on the housing needs of migrant workers, see this report from the Housing Assistance Council
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Regrettably, if the only argument were "the right of workers," farmworkers would face even more discrimination in law than they do now, so advocates must point to the value to communities, and even to the growers, of treating farmworkers like human beings.
It is getting pathetic anymore when reading about illegal immigration especially from the position of what illegals DON'T HAVE! Think of it this way...for a challenge: Anyone from Honduras, "Hmmm this place looks nice (your house) I think we'll just stay here and see what we can get..." Although a guest, heck, intruder in your home I am amazed at how people discuss what illegals don't have; or, with what they do have, it's somehow just not good enough.
Interesting implications of talking about it in terms of managing resources wisely for sustainability, and not talking about it as a right of the workers, of our fellow folks, to decent housing. Depending on how you look at it, I guess that's crafty tactics or a shame.