Implementing Affordable Homes Through Partnerships With Families

Over the past couple decades the number of undocumented immigrants involved in American agriculture has increased by the hundreds. They have dominated the fields on the west coast and have been put to work in some very harsh conditions. Many people in the US believe that these men, women, and even children are occupying jobs that legal citizens could have. We realize that even though much of our agriculture these days is harvested by modern technologies, a big part of the agriculture’s economy is made up of labor intensive from people, such as harvesting grapes, strawberries, pistachios, raspberries, etcetera. As we dig deeper into this topic we will realize why our agricultural

The Cesar E. Chavez Foundation describes farm worker’s living conditions as, “thousands of farm workers living like savages, beneath trees and amid garbage and human excrement--near tomatoes fields in San Diego County, tomatoes fields which use the most modern farm technology. They walk miles to buy food at inflated prices and they have to carry in water from irrigation pumps” (Chavez Foundation 1). It is unbelievable that Farmers treat their workers as agricultural implements or plow animals to be used and then discarded. Furthermore, is it vexing that farmers can afford expensive technology for their tomato fields, yet lack the insignificant amount money required to provide their workers with drinking water that is clean and doesn’t come from an irrigation water

This can be one of the reasons for poverty in this community. Many families who only have one income may not have enough money to live above the poverty line. We concluded that this might also affect residents who do not earn enough income to pay rent on their own leaving them to have to share their rent expenses with another family. In analyzing the different socio- demographics we found patterns within this community that relates back to issues they are facing today such as living in a food desert. As stated previously, food deserts are found in low income urban communities like South El Monte. With a high number of Latino residents living in poverty, issues of legal status further exacerbate this struggle to find healthy, affordable, and

California’s housing situation is severe compared to the rest of the United States. California is included in the top three states with the most “housing cost burdened individuals” (Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2015). In a list of 20 cities where rents were highest compared to income, 10 of the 20 cities were in California with Los Angeles, CA topping the list (Dewan, 2014). Opponents might say that households in poverty could never afford housing due to their impoverished state but poverty measures of California show that the abnormally high cost of housing in California makes matters more severe and causes the amount of households that are severely cost afflicted to increase. Furthermore, when poverty measures take into account California’s uniquely expensive and insufficient housing supply, the results show that housing costs contribute significantly to poverty. For example, when housing costs were included in the California Poverty Measure as well as federal Supplemental Poverty Measure, the poverty rates rose substantially (Wimer, Mattingly, & Levin, 2013) (Short, 2015). And when high housing costs were artificially substituted with low housing costs, poverty rates significantly dropped (Bohn, Danielson, & Levin, 2013). And it’s not just the poor who are affected! Even those who are moderate income earners are becoming financially burdened by high housing costs. Those who are moderately well off compared to low income earners are financially burdened by rent costs in expensive cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, CA (Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University,

According to the latest county data available from the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies Special Needs Housing Data Report in 2013, there were an estimated 1,068 migrant farmworker households in Broward County. The Shimberg Center for Housing Studies does not provide data specifically for cities, so for the purpose of this analysis, we used

Fresno County is one of the most populated and diverse counties in California having more than seventy ethnic groups in the metropolitan area. It is ranked first nation for agricultural production with annual sales of $3 billion. Within the county there are fifteen incorporated cities, Fresno being one of them. Fresno was founded by Central Pacific Railroad Company in 1872.

There are a total of 49,859 housing units in Mercer County and 93.7% are occupied. Roughly one third of Mercer’s housing units were constructed in 1939 or earlier. Compared to other counties this number is very high. 99% of the county’s occupied housing units have complete plumbing facilities and complete kitchen facilities. This is great because it makes the citizens happy and content with their home. The predominant housing unit design is the single-family detached home with around 75% of owned houses. This is important because if people are owning their own homes rather than renting they are more likely to stay in the community (Housing pg. 46).

It would benefit the county by cutting housing costs in botetourt because more and more people have had to move out because of rising property value and tax. Long term residents like farm owners and businesses have moved out or closed because of high property tax. All the growth and development of Botetourt has caused

In Sarah Whitley’s “Changing Times in Rural America: Food Assistance and Food Insecurity in Food Deserts” the causes and effects of food deserts in rural communities in the western United States in observed. Whitley states that, “Food insecurity and hunger are especially important to research in the rural setting because transportation issues and increasing food prices may affect rural food-insecure Americans significantly differently than their urban or suburban counterparts.” Rural America has been changing so drastically in recent years because its largest population is aging and retiring and the younger people that grew up in this rural setting are leaving to go to larger cities. With a declining population, rural areas are experiencing

Way before Cesar Chavez even existed, the Southwestern United States, where there was a significant amount of agriculture work, was in desperate need of agricultural unions. The life of the average farm worker wasn’t a luxurious one. Working in crops often involved harsh working conditions which were filthy or dangerous and negligible pay.(Source N) With over 3 million farm workers in the United States, 72% were from a foreign

This is the reality that many farm workers faced at the time leading up to the California grape strike in 1965. Migrant workers began fighting these terrible working conditions on September 8th, 1965, when the Agricultural Worker Organizing Committee (AWOC), primarily comprised

Roughly 70% of South LA / SPA 6 are Latino and are employed in labor-intensive jobs. According to the Pew research center (2017) immigrants are mostly like to be in these areas of employment: construction, apparel manufacturing, agriculture, cooks, day labors, fast food, gardening, housekeeping and childcare services, and other areas that usually pay minimum wage. In this economy, a household making minimum usually needs both parents working two to three full-time jobs, if not their household becomes impoverished as those in SPA 6. When you take away a major and most needed resource as money, you are left with relying on supplements, such as food stamps to feed one’s household. In SPA 6, a known food desert with food insecurities, many meals

Growing up on a small family wheat farm in southwestern Oklahoma, I have experienced the harsh conditions of farming firsthand. The job that used to employ the largest amount of people in the United States has lost the support and the respect of the American people. The Jeffersonian Ideal of a nation of farmers has been tossed aside to be replaced by a nation of white-collar workers. The family farm is under attack and it is not being protected. The family farm can help the United States economically by creating jobs in a time when many cannot afford the food in the stores. The family farm can help prevent the degradation of the environment by creating a mutually beneficial relationship between the people producing the food and nature. The family farm is the answer to many of the tough questions facing the United States today, but these small farms are going bankrupt all too often. The government’s policy on farming is the largest factor in what farms succeed, but simple economics, large corporations, and society as a whole influence the decline in family farms; small changes in these areas will help break up the huge corporate farms, keeping the small family farm afloat.

Response: Habitat for Humanity’s mission is to bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Habitat for Humanity believe that everyone deserves a

Affordable housing is where it all begins, it is important to have affordable housing in nicer neighborhoods, like McKinney in