An ag company bought a building for seasonal workers – but permanent residents live there.

A few weeks ago, all 27 families in the Monterey Manor apartment building in Soledad received a 60-day eviction notice from the building’s new owner, Arizona-based Fresh Innovations LLC, which was planning to fix up the apartments and use them for housing H-2A workers, who are federally authorized to temporarily reside in the U.S. for seasonal work in agriculture.

Yet more than half the 27 families currently living in the building – some of whom have been there for more than 20 years – also work in agriculture, and many spoke of their plight at a June 7 Soledad City Council meeting, asking if something can be done.

This happened just as Matt Huerta, housing program manager for the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, was readying to present a report to the council on housing issues. After hearing about Monterey Manor, Huerta and others – including city councilmembers, and the Salinas nonprofit Center for Community Advocacy – sprung into action to try to stave off the evictions.

By the evening of June 11, those efforts were successful, but Fresh Innovation – which bought the property in March for $3.86 million – is only promising to delay the evictions until the fall, which means the clock is still ticking. H-2A visas require employers to provide housing for workers.

“We met with the majority of the residents, and we’re still working with them to figure out what can be done,” says Alejandro Chavez, Soledad’s vice mayor. “We want to make certain they’re in a safe place and being taken care of, especially their children.”

The issue sheds light on the regional housing crisis.

“The housing market in this area is so limited,” Chavez says. “People can’t just go out and rent another spot, especially because this is the peak of the season for harvests.”

Any long-term solution, Huerta says, is up to Fresh Innovations. (The company, along with local grower JV Organic Farms that farms in the Soledad area, is a subsidiary of JV Smith Co.)

“We’re here to work with them,” Huerta says, “and identify a workable solution.”