Roughly 40 Santa Maria residents, and city and state officials talked housing and employer requirements on Aug. 23 at the Edwards Community Center, where the city held its third of five community forums regarding the H-2A guest farmworker program.
While the first and second meetings included presentations from city and county officials, the Aug. 23 panel discussion was led by representatives of the California Employment Development Department and the California Department of Housing and Community Development, who discussed their broader roles in the H-2A application, workforce recruiting, and housing inspection processes.
As in the past two meetings, familiar questions about vetting, behavioral issues, and overcrowding in residential neighborhoods were once again brought up by attendees.
“[H-2A] is growing rapidly,” Roman Diaz, of the California Employment Development Department, said at the forum. “And I really don’t know if it’s going to stop anytime soon.”
The forums, which are being hosted by various city, county, and state officials throughout the next few months, are part of the city’s effort to further understand the H-2A program, its importance to the region’s agricultural operations, and its potential impacts on residential neighborhoods.
The federal H-2A program, which allows farmers to bring vetted nonimmigrant workers into the U.S. to provide much-needed agricultural labor for a limited time, was pushed to the city’s spotlight in March, when several residents complained about the program’s growing presence in Santa Maria’s residential neighborhoods.
Complaints of overcrowding and displacement sparked a city investigation into the issue, and an urgency ordinance prohibiting property owners from housing more than six H-2A guest workers in units located in single-family and medium-density residential zoning districts was passed unanimously by the Santa Maria City Council on March 20.
The sudden vote, which city officials said was an effort to preserve residential housing for long-term residents, garnered significant backlash from affiliates of the local agricultural industry, many of whom felt the decision seemed rushed and under researched. After the City Council voted on April 17 not to extend the ordinance, it expired on May 4.
Now, the city is slowing down and working to educate itself and community members on the ins and outs of the program.
Although the H-2A program is growing, Diaz said it’s still only used to fill about 2 percent of California’s agricultural jobs. That’s partially because the H-2A application process is extensive for employers, and the program is expensive to use.
Farmers applying to hire H-2A workers are required to provide food, housing, transportation, and adequate wages to workers hired through the program. And before they can even hire foreign workers, employers must attempt to recruit U.S. workers, according to Rosalba Chavez, a foreign labor analyst with the California Employment Development Department.
The Employment Development Department helps farmers find recruits, Chavez said, and also heavily reviews H-2A applications, conducts housing inspections, and carries out random field checks.
But the California Department of Housing and Community Development is the chief authority on H-2A housing, according to Cesar Ponce, who said at the forum that all H-2A facilities must be inspected and approved by his state department.
Despite Ponce’s detailed explanation of H-2A and employee housing requirements, several community members asked hyper specific questions and complained of local facilities in violation of the state’s apparent regulations.
“I’d like to address what I consider to be the 800 pound gorilla in the room,” Santa Maria City Councilmember Michael Moats said at the forum, before explaining the city’s urgency ordinance banning more than six H-2A workers in a single-family dwelling. “Is there any precedent for limiting the number of H-2A workers in one house?”
Ponce said that there is no set number of employees a single facility can be limited to, but again explained the program’s regulations requiring H-2A employers to provide 50 square feet of sleeping space per employee, three catered meals a day or a fully equipped kitchen, laundry facilities, ladders, fire extinguishers, and bathrooms with at least one showerhead per 10 workers.
Moats, repeating an anecdotal question that has been asked by several community members at multiple meetings in the last year, asked if he could house more than 10 workers in a 3,500-square-foot house with five bedrooms and three bathrooms. When Ponce said that would legally be possible, Moats asked how Ponce would feel if 10 men of “military age,” living “without female companions” moved in next door to his house.
“The law states that that’s possible,” Ponce said. “That is a possibility.”
Ponce assured attendees that violators can be reported to Housing and Community Development, and action will be taken.
“Throughout the state we have a housing shortage,” Ponce said at the forum, “and because of that, employers are getting a little more creative.”
A date for the next H-2A forum has yet to be announced.
This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 6, 2018.