Farmworkers are among the hardest-working people in the United States. They are also among the poorest. Farmworker poverty, along with other factors, leads directly to a lack of decent, safe, and affordable housing. Farmworkers face the entire range of housing problems: substandard housing quality, crowding, unaffordable housing costs, and low homeownership rates.

Social and Economic Characteristics
There are few reliable data on farmworker demographics, economic conditions, and housing conditions in the United States. The decennial Census does not collect information on farmworkers as a distinct population. Estimates of the numbers of seasonal farmworkers and their dependents range from 1.9 to 4 million [nationwide].

The U.S. Department of Labor's National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) provides some demographic information. Eighty-eight percent of all farmworkers surveyed by NAWS were of Hispanic heritage. The next largest sub-population (7 percent) was non-Hispanic whites. Eighty-one percent of the NAWS-surveyed farmworkers were born outside the United States. There is a common misperception that all farmworkers are undocumented; this is clearly not the case. Estimates vary widely but agree that at a minimum almost half, and possible a far greater proportion, of farmworkers are in the country legally.

Approximately 56 percent of those surveyed by NAWS were migrant workers, traveling among regions and states following crop seasons and labor demand. Generally they move in three streams: the Eastern stream, originating in Florida and extending up the East Coast; the Midwestern stream, based in Texas and moving north to the Great Lakes and Plains states; and the Western stream, beginning in California and spreading along the West Coast.

About 44 percent of farmworkers do not migrate, instead residing in their communities year-round. A large proportion of them live in the home base states of California, Texas, and Florida, which have longer growing seasons than others

Farmworkers are among the poorest people in the country, with a poverty rate of 61 percent. In 1997 through 1998, half of all individual farmworkers earned less than $7,500 per year and half of all farmworker families earned less than $10,000 per year. The seasonal nature of farm work contributes to these low incomes.

Housing Characteristics
Due in large part to their low wages, farmworkers face significant difficulties in finding affordable housing. A survey conducted by the Housing Assistance Council in 1997-2000 found that about one-third of the farmworkers surveyed were cost-burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their monthly incomes for housing. More than 85 percent of these cost-burdened households included children.

Farmworkers often live in overcrowded homes, perhaps in order to reduce their housing costs. Excluding dormitories and barracks (structures designed for high occupancy), almost 52 percent of the units surveyed by HAC were crowded. This figure is almost ten times as high as the national average. Children lived in 74 percent of these units.

Most farmworker-occupied units have common household appliances such as a stove, refrigerator, bathtub, and a toilet, but in 22 percent of the HAC-surveyed units at least one of these appliances and fixtures was missing or broken, a rate far higher than among general population. In addition, almost 52 percent of the surveyed units lacked access to working laundry facilities, and almost 43 percent laced a working telephone.

In addition to high housing costs, crowding, and substandard housing, farmworkers encounter unique environmental hazards related to housing, particularly the danger of exposure to pesticides. Overall, 26 percent of HAC-surveyed units were directly adjacent to fields where pesticides were applied. Among units next to treated fields, 53 percent lacked a working tub/shower, laundry machine, or both. Children lived in 60 percent of all surveyed units adjacent to fields where pesticides were applied.

Addressing the Challenge
Eligible farmworkers may benefit from federal, state, and local housing assistance programs. Two federal programs – the Section 514 loan and Section 516 grant programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service – fund development of housing specifically for farmworkers. Demand for this funding far exceeds the available dollars, however.

With the support of family and social networks, community-based organizations, and government programs at local, state, and federal levels, many farmworker families are able to meet their housing needs. The challenge is to expand the resources and opportunities available to farmworkers.

Fact sheet created by the Housing Assistance Council, , September 2003, http://www.ruralhome.org/