Salinas grapples with a housing crisis for seasonal ag workers.

Nothing like a threat to bring friends together.

That was the takeaway I took from the Nov. 20 Salinas City Council meeting, which saw the council flip-flop on an ordinance temporarily banning labor contractors from placing H-2A farm laborers in residential neighborhoods.

The threat in many ways was an idle one from the start. Harvesting season in the Salinas Valley had all but ended, and many harvesting companies and their 4,600 H-2A workers had decamped to Yuma for the growing season there. But still, that threat was enough to bring the ag community out in force, where speaker after speaker warned the council about the unintended consequences a moratorium – even the 45-day one the city proposed as it worked through the problem of substandard conditions – would bring.

“I understand their concerns,” says Mayor Joe Gunter, who conjured up his previous life as a homicide detective when he told the speakers that while nobody likes a snitch, it’s time for the good labor contractors who provide quality housing to start snitching on the ones that don’t, and to do it before the next growing season comes in March.

“If they say they’re not a bad player, I say, tell me who is,” Gunter says. “The laborers are not the enemy. They’re working people and they need decent places to live.”

The situation started a few months ago, when Councilmember Tony Barrera reported getting complaints about such rentals in his East Salinas district, where some farm contractors had started buying up single-family homes and using them to house H-2A workers. Under city code, only six employees are allowed on a single parcel, and H-2A rentals are considered workforce housing.

What code enforcement official Lorenzo Sanchez found when he started investigating in September was altogether different. He inspected 20 properties housing more than 250 H-2A workers, in the country to do agricultural work on a seasonal basis only. In one case, Sanchez found 40 people living in a three-bedroom home and sharing just two bathrooms. In other situations, dozens of people living in a single unit slept in hallways and living rooms.

Meanwhile, many of the properties were rife with other violations, including unpermitted additions, improperly installed water heaters, non-functioning furnaces and exposed wiring.

During public comment, everyone from the Grower-Shipper Association and Farm Bureau to one of the largest lettuce growers in the country spoke about those aforementioned bad actors. But most poignant were the three H-2A visa holders who spoke, aided by translators, about how grateful they were to be allowed to work in the fields at all.

From Edgar Santos of Michoacán: “This is the second year I come to the city of Salinas… H-2A has given me the opportunity to come to Salinas and improve my life, not only mine but my family’s. I’m very grateful because H-2A has provided us with good housing, a bed, blankets, water, light, electricity. I feel very safe there. They make sure there’s no drugs, no alcohol and I feel very safe. I would like to thank the city for the opportunity provided to us.”

Juan Padilla, another H-2A visa holder: “We want to thank the city of Salinas for allowing us to work for you and allowing us to help our families. Thank you for providing what every person needs, which is housing, food and water.”

Can you imagine being satisfied with housing, food, water and a meager salary in exchange for back-breaking labor?

The moratorium would have required a four-fifths vote to pass, but with Councilmembers Gloria de la Rosa and Steve McShane declaring during council comments they wouldn’t support it, it died before a vote could even happen. But still, Gunter says it had its intended effect.

The moratorium was tabled, and the city plans to convene a working group comprising ag interests and labor contractors to figure out permanent solutions to the farmworker housing crisis.

“We’re going to hold it until after the season and then we can get heavy-handed,” Gunter says. “Everyone says they’re willing to come to the table, so we’re going to bring them to the table.”

MARY DUAN writes The Local Spin for the Weekly. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com or follow her at twitter.com/maryrduan