Thousands of California migrant workers are forced to leave their homes each year, leaving them empty for months at a time. But a new law could change that.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2240 on Wednesday afternoon, which directs the state to study whether its 24 housing complexes for migrant farmworkers can remain open year-round. These seasonal centers have been around since the 1970s and have continued to operate on the same schedule even as the needs and demographics of farmworkers have changed significantly.
At a news conference in Fresno on Wednesday, Newsom and Rep. Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno), who introduced the bill, said the mandatory testing is a step toward offering the centers annually.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor, only 8% of farmworkers in the state are currently immigrants.
“The nature of work on migrant farms has changed, so there needs to be additional requirements and updates in that area,” Newsom said at the news conference in Fresno.
Arambula wrote AB 2240 after a Sacramento Bee survey found that 80 percent of farmworkers would rather stay in the centers year-round. The annual moves disrupt their children’s education and limit their chances of escaping low-wage work.
California currently operates the centers — which house about 7,000 farmworkers and family members — from about May through November, when the complexes close and remain empty until the next farming season.
AB 2240 has evolved since Arambula introduced it in February. The bill initially called for the centers, owned by the California Department of Housing and Community Development, to operate year-round by 2031.
That proposal has faced opposition from advocacy groups and farmworkers at some housing centers, who argued that such a change would effectively eliminate California’s migrant housing program. The centers stretch from the Oregon border to Kern County, with local housing authorities, nonprofits and growers’ associations owning the land and operating the centers. HCD subsidizes residents’ rent.
In response to the opposition, the legislature amended the bill to require HCD to conduct an impact analysis of the centers’ transition to year-round provision by January 1, 2027.
AB 2240 also now requires HCD to update its definition of a “migrant farmworker,” which residents must meet to live at the center. Under state law, a migrant farmworker is defined as an individual who earns at least 50 percent of their total income from agricultural work and lives within 50 miles of the housing center for at least three months after it closes for the season.
The distance rule was created to ensure that those living in migrant housing were truly migrant. Under AB 2240, the rule no longer applies to residents with school-age children.
