The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to provide nearly $6 million for much-needed affordable housing for farm laborers, which would prioritize families displaced by a mass shooting last year that killed seven people.
The money will be used to purchase manufactured homes for farmworkers. At least 19 families who were displaced by the shooting in Half Moon Bay will be given priority.
A total of 28 of the 45 to 50 units at Stone Pine Cove, a 22-acre property zoned for multiple affordable housing buildings, will be set aside for agricultural workers.
“Every family deserves a safe and healthy place to live,” said Supervisor Ray Mueller, who represents District 3, where a majority of the county’s farmland is located. “We must absolutely create opportunities for farmworkers to live in San Mateo County, as well as invest resources in stabilizing the agricultural economy that provides for farmworking jobs.”
The money is coming from the state-funded Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant.
Last month, San Mateo County resubmitted its housing plan, officially known as the “housing element,” with updates emphasizing farmworker housing as one of its top priorities.
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Worries about the substandard living conditions of farmworkers in coastal San Mateo County came to the forefront after the mass shooting last year. But the push for more farmworker housing projects has been met with resistance by some residents who say they are concerned about overdevelopment in their city.
In March, the county secured $4 million in federal funds for the same project.
“These latest funds bolster the county’s recent efforts to improve farmworker living conditions,” San Mateo County said in a press release. At least $1 million of those funds will go toward the planning stage of the project.
