State lifts “50 Mile Rule” for migrant farm worker families

The state is lifting a decades-old rule on migrant farm worker housing.

The”50-Mile Rule,” originally dictated where a migrant farm working family could live and when. The migrant workforce could live in state-subsidized housing during the growing and harvesting season, but after that, would have to move at least 50 miles away to qualify for housing the next year.

This change will allow families with school-aged children the chance to live in one place year round, as long as they get a waiver. It was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown last week, part of another bill dealing with the budget. Assembly member Anna Caballero wrote the exemption, saying it could help thousands of California families.

She called the rule “outdated,” saying it was set up for single men, when now it’s mostly families living in migrant centers. She said it is the kids who suffer the most.

“There was a study done that showed actually very few kids were graduating from high school that were required to move because they had a difficult time making that transition that they just couldn’t finish their education by the time they were 18,” Caballero said.

Watsonville is home to the Buena Vista Migrant Center, one of 24 state-subsidized housing developments for migrant labor.

Eracia Chavez Calderon lives there with her family. She knows the struggle her kids face when the have to move in the fall.

“They would cry, ‘Mom, we don’t want to leave,’ and I would tell them, ‘This is how it is, son,’ and we would leave to Mexico and then come back,” she said.

Families who are interested in getting the waiver can do so locally. Right now the waiver is slated to run through 2024.

“The way that it works is that it gives flexibility to our partners, who are as I said are housing authority, to be able to grant a waiver for families that have children in school,” Caballero said.

Caballero doesn’t believe it’s enough. She says she is working on a bill that would allow children of migrant workers to comply with state requirements for graduating, rather than making them follow the local rules. She said it’s something already in effect for kids in foster care, part of an alternative education process and children whose parents are in the military.