(KRON) – A special City Council meeting was held in Half Moon Bay on Thursday to discuss a proposal to house elderly farmworkers.
Mercy Housing, a nonprofit, plans to build 40 units of housing for retired farmworkers, ranging from studios to two-bedroom apartments, along with several community spaces.
“Since our last meeting, we have secured more than $13 million from the Farm Housing Program and have made progress toward delivering 40 homes to this community,” said a representative from Mercy Housing.
The housing project aims to address a long-standing housing crisis exacerbated by the 2023 shooting that killed seven farmworkers.
ALAS, a non-profit organization that partners with Mercy Housing, highlights the poor living conditions and lack of resources that farmworkers face, which contribute to their suffering.
“Some people live in terrible conditions, others live in cramped conditions,” said Luispozin Enrique Bazan, director of community engagement at ALAS. “But they want to live a decent life after the age of 50 or 65.”
The project has faced delays due to appeals, and City Council members still have questions about parking rules and funding details.
Local residents, including Ana Morales and Noreen Cooper Havlin, expressed their support for the project, emphasizing the need to improve the living conditions of farmworkers.
The city council plans to hold another meeting to continue discussions on the housing project, as residents and organizations are pushing for its approval to improve the lives of elderly farm workers.
All facts contained in this report were collected by journalists working forCrohn4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat the broadcast transcript into a news article for our website. This report was edited and verified by KRON4 staff before deployment.