Aging Farmworkers in Half Moon Bay Want a Place to 'Rest With Dignity'

This story was produced by El Tímpano, a bilingual nonprofit news outlet that amplifies the voices of Latino and Mayan immigrants in Oakland and the wider Bay Area. The original version of the story can be found here.

J

avier and Felix Torres, two brothers from Guanajuato, Mexico, have lived, raised families and worked at farms in and around Half Moon Bay for more than 40 years. The brothers, now in their 60s, spoke with El Tímpano just outside Cabrillo Farms in late June. Their work day had just finished around 3 p.m., and their hands were stained green from harvesting sweet snap peas. It was a windy afternoon, but Javier Torres said that the cool weather was part of what he loved about Half Moon Bay because it made working the fields in long sleeves easier.

He recalled his first three nights in the United States in 1979. He was in Pescadero, a town in unincorporated San Mateo County about 30 minutes south of Half Moon Bay, sleeping head-to-toe on a bed with strangers before finding work at a farm near Half Moon Bay. Now, Javier Torres owns a four-bedroom home with his wife, his two adult children and his granddaughter, but he said he knows the high cost of living has made overcrowding common practice in the area.

A mass shooting at two farms in Half Moon Bay last year left seven people dead and revealed horrific conditions for the farmworkers, who were living on-site in shipping containers later described by county officials as “deplorable.”

However, addressing the urgent need for affordable housing is far from simple. A proposed five-story affordable housing development for senior farmworkers, located at 555 Kelly Ave., was finally approved in May after three five-hour meetings and criticism from Gov. Gavin Newsom. The joint project, led by affordable housing developer Mercy Housing and Half Moon Bay nonprofit Ayudando Latinos a Soñar (ALAS), was promptly appealed by some community members.

Half Moon Bay’s city council reaffirmed the planning commission’s decision in late June, voting unanimously to deny three appeals to the project. Yet the delays pushed the expected groundbreaking to mid-2026, according to Mercy Housing. Work is also underway on 47 manufactured homes for farmworkers in Half Moon Bay and is expected to be move-in ready by early 2025. The project, which received state funding and support, will give priority to survivors.

Shortages of affordable housing and low wages mean that farmworkers who have built their lives in the region struggle to afford living there. Most coastside farmworkers have lived in the community for many years, according to Half Moon Bay’s draft housing element (PDF) and a 2016 San Mateo County Agricultural Workforce Needs Assessment (PDF). The agriculture industry makes up approximately 1,300 jobs in San Mateo County, according to the 2017 Department of Agriculture census of farmworkers.

“It’s a community that’s been in the shadows for so long,” ALAS Farmworker Program Director Sandra Sencion said.

Sencion said that many of the farmworkers ALAS serves speak only Spanish, work long hours and have few transportation options, which limits their access to support and assistance.

More than 1,000 affordable housing units were needed for farmworkers throughout San Mateo County, the 2016 Agricultural Workforce Needs Assessment estimated. Latinos also experience overcrowding at the highest rate in Half Moon Bay and households with low-income are at a higher risk of overcrowding.

“I think ALAS has just created a space where folks can come together and support each other,” Sencion said.

Local farmworkers who have lived and worked in Half Moon Bay for decades have begun advocating for affordable housing, speaking in support of housing at local meetings and informing others in their community.

“Oftentimes, there’s a gap between the people making the decisions and who it’s affecting. I think we have seen that dynamic change in our community, shifting the power,” Sencion said.

Javier Torres and his brother, Felix, were both present at the June 26 evening appeals hearing despite their 5:30 a.m. start to the day.

“Here there are families that have up to 15 people in one house,” Torres said in Spanish, explaining his support of the 555 Kelly Ave. project mere hours before the city council decided to deny appeals that sought to derail the project.

Felix Torres says that finding affordable housing in Half Moon Bay is challenging. He has lived in the same apartment for around 24 years, which he shares with one of his sons in order to afford rent.

“It is a point of pride for me to work so many years in the field, for 44 years,” Felix Torres said in Spanish. He later added, “If they carry out those apartments, then the simple truth is that we can rest with dignity.”

Half Moon Bay resident Yajayra Sonoqui spoke in support of the 555 Kelly project on behalf of her father, a longtime farmworker who was unable to attend the June 26 meeting as he recovered from surgery to remove several of his toes. Sonoqui said her father, who is 68 years old, worked at farms in Half Moon Bay for 42 years and is an active volunteer in the community, but his health has declined in recent years.

She said she hoped her parents could someday move into one of the few two-bedroom apartments at the development to live out their days more comfortably and have additional room for a family caretaker.

Sonoqui and eight other family members, including her parents, share a three-bedroom apartment to make ends meet. She said with her father’s recent surgery and her mother’s dialysis, having more space for the aging couple would be a relief for the family.

Rocio Avila, a local farmworker and member of the ALAS Housing Committee, said her own experience with overcrowded housing led her to advocate for more affordable housing in the region.

Until four months ago, Avila, her husband and their three children crammed into a single room in a house shared with her three brothers. According to Avila, she and her husband and their two youngest children shared a bed while her eldest daughter slept in a small space on the floor before they could move into a three-bedroom mobile home earlier this year.

Avila was among the farmworkers who spoke in support of the 555 Kelly Ave. project at Wednesday’s city council hearing. Following the vote, she celebrated with tears in her eyes, hugging those around her.