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"We Don't Want Camps. We Want Affordable Housing." (Issue #5, February 1991)
In early 1988, when a bigger-than-usual labor surplus drew sustained media coverage, the crisis in farmworker housing and the "plight" of homeless farmworkers suddenly became the "concern of choice". Through 1989 and into 1990, key government and agribusiness figures predicted that, without lots more labor camps, crops might fail: workers would "skip" Oregon in favor of "better conditions" elsewhere.
Sad to say, a number of good liberals agreed, reasoning that "a camp roof is better than no roof". The Legislature responded by passing a few reforms, a handful of growers took advantage of new tax credits for patching up their camps, and a few other growers proposed building major new barracks out on the farm.
Meanwhile, vacant rentals in Valley towns have become scarcer than ever, already-inflated rents have skyrocketed (up to $500 per month for a two bedroom apartment), overcrowding has become the norm, and habitability is the exception, not the rule. Given these conditions, we weren't very surprised to find workers living in a disabled Volvo wagon parked behind our office, and we wondered whether the fire which leveled an old warehouse nearby was inadvertently caused by the people who we noticed camping underneath it.
In fact, the Valley's housing crisis has existed for decades. In the early 1960s, many Valley growers razed their camps--most built in the 40s and early 50s--rather than comply with the minimal standards enacted in response to a short-lived burst of farmworker activism. In 1982, the Woodburn City Council blocked construction of a federally-funded farmworker housing project, declaring the "Woodburn already had its fair share." In 1988, Silverton city officials publicly invited the Immigration Service to raid an apartment complex to reduce overcrowding.
It's plain racism that spurs these people to treat farmworker housing as akin to toxic waste dumps: necessary but "don't put them in my neighborhood." This segregationism, plus the growers' pattern of using labor camps as a tool to control their workers, replicate the essential elements of Apartheid.
The solution is building low-income housing in towns, where farmworkers can be close to services and part of the community. We have come to regard low-income housing development as integral to achieving our emancipation. Starting this year, we are committing time and energy to establish a non-profit farmworker housing development corporation in Woodburn, in collaboration with groups and individuals who share the goal of fulfilling a basic human right: a decent and affordable home.