"Farmworkers and their families in rural California and throughout this country often are forced to live in the most despicable and challenging conditions. They sleep in onion fields, live in caves dug into canyons, bathe in irrigation ditches, huddle under tarps or find refuge in cars, tool sheds, barns and in river banks, face rent gouging for substandard and dangerous housing units, rent rooms in dilapidated old motels, face housing discrimination because of who they are, what they look like or the language they speak and suffer retaliatory eviction and firing should they have the temerity to complain about such third world conditions in the richest nation in the world." Ilene J. Jacobs, Director of Litigation, Advocacy and Training California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.
(Un)Safe at Home: The Health Consequences of Sub-standard Farm Labor Housing was developed as part of the Rural Justice Forum (RJF), an ongoing series of conferences, workshops, and symposia convened each year by CRLA to showcase emerging research and advocacy focused on the needs of low-income rural communities and marginalized populations within California. This paper reflects the focus of the RJF over the past two years: Addressing the persistent problem of substandard housing for farmworkers, and the related health implications of living in unhealthy environments.
We hope you will join us in addressing this problem and finding solutions that will bring about healthier, safer lives for farmworkers in California and beyond.