Study finds a growing need for more housing for farm workers

YAKIMA Yakima County is 25,500 units short of housing tht farm workers can afford, causing overcrowding and other problems, a newly released study said.

The 26-page draft report by the Housing Foundation of Yakima warns that "... unless the problem is realistically addressed, it most likely will have increasingly dire consequences for the citizens of this county.

"Perhaps the greatest obstacle ... is a failure to recognize that changes have taken place, that farm workers are no longer visitors but permanent residents and neighbors," the report said.

The report, commissioned by Yakima County, makes specific estimates of a population whose scope has long been the focus of speculation but has received little critical analysis.

The study also supports Yakima County officials who have long argued that the 1990 U.S. Census drastically undercounted the number of people living here.

Among the report's findings:

Harvesting Yakima County's apple crop requires an average peak work force of 58,500, the equivalent of every man, woman and child in the city of Yakima.

Housing those workers is not a seasonal issue. As many as 85 percent of the farm workers have settled here and require year-round housing.

Most farm workers live in overcrowded homes and apartments. One survey of smaller Yakima Valley towns found overcrowding in as much as 94 percent of farm worker households, while another survey found farm workers living in overcrowded homes up to 79 percent of the time in the city of Yakima.

The county, which paid $24,000 for the report, is expected to use the information in developing a state-mandated long-term growth management plan.

The Housing Foundation was chosen to develop the study because of its track record of helping low-income residents buy homes.