Salinas considers H-2A worker housing limit

The Salinas City Council is considering a temporary ordinance that will affect housing for farmworkers in the area.

The city is looking at limiting the number of workers that can live on any one lot in town, but since there is already not enough housing, agriculture companies say that will be tough.

For housing, sometimes workers get packed in a large group into house. Some neighbors say that can be a problem.

“Well, I notice that since the seasonal work has started, it got very crowded here in my area, in my neighborhood. I notice a lot of traffic,” said Alma Camacho, a Salinas resident.

The city has already considered a law limiting the number of renters in each home to seven. But now, they are looking at applying existing employee housing regulations to workers here under the H-2A program.

“H-2A housing is considered employee housing under the city code. So under our city code, it’s limited to a maximum of six individual employees per parcel,” said Chris Callihan, the city attorney in Salinas.

H-2A workers are allowed into the U.S. to take on temporary agricultural jobs on the Central Coast. The restriction does not apply to motels or hotels, which usually have agreements with agriculture companies for housing.

These companies still want more discussion though before anything happens, and residents in Salinas are already complaining about overcrowded houses.

“To preserve the quality of the neighborhoods in the community,” said Callihan. “This is a regulation that a lot of jurisdictions across the state have.”

But the agriculture companies say there will be no place for their workers to live if this new rule passes.

The city council did not make a decision on the rule at Tuesday evening’s meeting, and they are looking to host more discussions before they take a vote.