Blue House Farm: Farmworker Housing Landshare
On a cool, overcast morning in the coastal community of San Gregorio, a group of officials from San Mateo County and the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) gathered beside four new manufactured homes set in front of a pumpkin field at Blue House Farm.
The occasion? A ribbon cutting marking progress in something critical to their goal of preserving agriculture on the San Mateo coastline: the creation of affordable and accessible housing for farmworkers, constructed on the farmlands they cultivate.
“When I first thought about farming here five years ago, one of the challenges was a labor shortage due to the lack of affordable housing for workers,” says Ryan Casey, the owner of 74-acre Blue House Farm. “It became clear that, to have a future in farming here on the coast, I had to proactively provide some housing for my employees.”
That’s where POST and San Mateo County come in. An enlightened partnership between government, nonprofits and the private sector creates affordable housing for farmworkers to ensure long-term preservation of productive farms in the region. They’ve already completed five farmworker housing developments and four more are in the pipeline.
The Blue House Farm project is their largest so far. Two of the four homes were funded by the County, with Blue House Farm buying the other two. Blue House Farm workers will be able to rent the three-bedroom homes at substantially below-market rates.
Affordable housing for farmworkers is often overlooked in discussions about sustainable agriculture. Yet it is a fundamental part of the infrastructure of any farm. Without housing that workers can afford, workers cannot afford to live and work here, which makes viable farming all the more challenging.
“The new housing will have a dramatic effect on labor stability for me and quite an upgrade in living conditions and commute time for my crew,” notes Ryan. “Farming takes a lot of hands, and without those hands in the field, it all falls apart.”
The Blue House Farm housing strategy is part of a wider improvement program undertaken by POST and its partners including the San Mateo Resource Conservation District. “Other improvements are being made to increase water security for agricultural operations, which helps enhance stream flows in San Gregorio Creek for endangered steelhead trout and Coho salmon,” says Daniel Olstein, director of land programs and stewardship at POST.
POST has taken a leadership role in protecting farms along the coastline with its Farmland Futures Initiative. Working to purchase farmland or preserving it for farming through legal protections removes the threat of development, and lets POST provide long-term leases to farmers, sometimes with an option to purchase.
Innovative efforts like this one that provide permanent housing for farmworkers and their families are crucial to maintaining sustainable farming in our coastal communities.
Good growing!
To find out more, contact POST openspacetrust.org and Blue House Farm bluehousefarm.com
Farmland Futures, a Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) initiative is raising $25 million to fund all projects specific to farmland protection. You can find out more here.
