These responses were submitted by members of an advisory board on farmworker housing that featured growers, advocates, and service providers in Monterey County, organized by The Californian reporter Kate Cimini.
Salinas and Monterey County as a whole are some of the least affordable places to live in the U.S., per the 2019 Harvard State of the Nation's housing study.
Nearly 40% of Monterey County growers reported financial losses related to the coronavirus-prompted shutdown.
"Ag workers are uniquely vulnerable to this virus because of the close proximity they often work and live," said California Assemblymember Robert Rivas.
This story was produced as a project for the 2020 Impact Fund....
Like most of us, Doris Beckman, 67, had a plan for how life was going to go. But real life has a way of interrupting the imagined one.
Joy and Ben Langford know how difficult it is for a young family to afford a home in Monterey County. They rented for several years as they had three children. At the same time, Ben’s parents wanted to downsize and relocate from Texas to California to be closer to them, but they couldn't afford it.
"Only until people really realize there are 70 – and 80-year-old women living in their cars will we as a society be forced to change,” one local nonprofit leader says.
Is spending health care dollars on housing a viable solution for at-risk seniors in Monterey County?
The goal is to convince health care organizations, government agencies and community leaders to redirect health care dollars to create more affordable housing for Monterey County's vulnerable seniors.
The workers fell ill earlier this year while working on a solar panel project in Monterey County after six employers allowed serious lapses in training and safety precautions.
