"The impossible math Chepe faced in Ventura County isn't new. Throughout the two decades he lived there, farmworker advocates warned about the region's increasing housing prices and scarce affordable housing, concerned about how that would affect the county's now $2 billion-a-year agricultural economy. Ventura County has some of the nation's strictest protections for open space and agricultural land, but it's also considered one of the country's least affordable housing markets. And farmworkers are especially impacted by the high housing costs, often forced to live in unaffordable, overcrowded and substandard conditions."
"Now, however, the county is experiencing a small boom in affordable farmworker-housing development, spurred by a 2016 exemption to a slow-growth initiative first passed in the 1990s. The exemption, which sought to juggle farmland protection with the need for affordable housing, made it easier to build farmworker housing on agricultural land. For years, the region has grappled with the question of how a community that prides itself on preserving agricultural lands could also improve its farmworkers' housing. And with the Trump administration's ICE raids increasingly impacting the financial situation of undocumented farmworkers, stable h"
Chepe and his family struggled to cover a $2,400 monthly rent in Oxnard while working as farmworkers, relying on community IOUs and occasional childcare support. They moved to Las Vegas where rent for a similar apartment was half, sacrificing community ties for affordability. Ventura County's rising housing prices and limited affordable units threaten its $2 billion-a-year agricultural economy and disproportionately burden farmworkers. The county protects open space and farmland but remains among the least affordable housing markets, causing overcrowded and substandard living conditions. A 2016 exemption eased construction of farmworker housing on agricultural land, spurring a modest development boom amid added pressure from ICE raids on undocumented workers.
Read at High Country News
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