New law makes it easier to build worker housing near farmland.

The topic of housing loomed large over the California state legislature this year with a plethora of bills aimed at adding more places to live—and existing homes more livable—debated and made into law. While urban infill and rent control received much of the focus, one bill on farmworker housing introduced by freshman Assemblyman Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, was able to share some of the spotlight.

After overwhelming support in both the Assembly and the Senate, the Farmworker Housing Act of 2019 was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Oct. 13. The new law is designed to create a streamlined process to build farmworker housing on agricultural land.

When Rivas introduced the act as Assembly Bill 1783 in February, he saw his plan as an important addition to the overall fight against the state’s housing crisis.

“One could argue that it’s a humanitarian crisis in Monterey County,” Rivas told the Weekly. “When you have a situation where farmworker families are living three, four and five families to a single family home, that’s unacceptable.”

Before the law, building worker housing near farmland was difficult due to various regulations governing development. Now some of the red tape has been removed, and agricultural landowners are more free to build. 

Rivas built into the law provisions for the housing to be “dignified and family friendly,” as well as safeguards to protect the environment. The units will have to be affordable to workers and kept as affordable units for 55 years.

Also required of landowners is to hand over management of the housing to qualified nonprofit organizations to put some distance between management and workers’ housing rights. Rivas himself as a child lived with his extended family in a two-bedroom, one-bath farmworker housing unit near Paicines. It was owned by the company that paid his grandfather’s wages. His grandfather fought for better working conditions but sometimes hesitated to speak out for fear the family might lose their home.

“This is a momentous victory for farmworkers who, together with our family farmers, work to bring the freshest produce to market and help feed the entire country,” Rivas said in a press release on Oct. 15. “This historic new law helps both farmworkers and farmers by addressing the tremendous need for construction of farmworker housing throughout California.”