NAPLES DAILY NEWS

March 26, 2005

USDA grant sought to house field workers

Catholic Charities Diocese of Venice has requested a $3 million grant from the USDA to help build housing for 540 residents outside Arcadia

By LAURA LAYDEN

Hurricane Charley left behind a path of destruction in DeSoto and Hardee counties, wiping out much of farmworkers' housing.

This season farmworkers have cramped into whatever housing they could find in the Central Florida communities of Arcadia, Nocatee and Wauchula. Some have been forced to live in broken-down, moldy trailers that took a beating from the storm.

Help might be on the horizon, more than six months after Charley struck on Aug. 13.

But only time will tell if the chronic shortage of housing for farmworkers can be fixed.

The Catholic Charities Diocese of Venice Inc. has applied for a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help build affordable housing for farmworkers in DeSoto County. The project, called Casa San Juan Bosco, would be at an old sod farm four miles east of Arcadia on the south side of State Road 70.

The more than 60 acres could one day provide housing to at least 540 residents tied to Florida's multibillion-dollar agriculture industry.

Affordable housing is difficult enough to find in Florida, but farmworkers often face more obstacles because their incomes are so meager and they frequently migrate for their work.

"This housing was needed even before the hurricanes," said Peter Routsis-Arroyo, president of the Catholic Charities Diocese of Venice Inc. "I think the hurricanes and a crisis have opened a door for nonprofits and developers to really know that we need to work together. The exciting piece to all of this for us is that we've got the support of the growers."

The Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, one of the state's largest trade groups for growers, has pledged $50,000 for the project.

A half-dozen growers in DeSoto County are backing the project, saying there's a tremendous need for decent, affordable housing, Routsis-Arroyo said.

The farmworker project would be a first for the Diocese of Venice, but not for its mother organization, Catholic Charities.

A few years ago, Catholic Charities Inc. received more than $3 million from the USDA to build a similar housing development called the San Jose Mission in Hillsborough County to support farmworkers in Dover and Plant City. The Catholic Diocese of St.

Petersburg donated 34 acres for the project, which offers more than 150 units of farmworker housing. The architects and attorneys are the same for both projects.

The new farmworker community in DeSoto would provide rental housing for families and single men. It would offer a community center for gatherings, day care, education programs, counseling and immigration services.

A goal is to build greater self-sufficiency among farmworkers.

"This project is truly going to be remarkable," said Ray Gilmer, a spokesman with the growers' association. "If it's built I think it will be a showcase farmworker community in Florida. Not only would it provide housing but a place for family services and health care, and it would bring in merchants nearby for the community — for farmworker residents. It would address their needs far beyond a roof over their head."

First and second phases call for a total of 72 single-family rental homes. They would accommodate up to 432 residents. Each home would have three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Phase three would add 38 homes for single men, along with a community center. As many as 114 single men could live in these homes, which would have common areas for dining and bathing.

There could also be a fourth phase that would offer farmworkers the opportunity for home ownership.

To do everything it wants to do, Catholic Charities probably will need between $13 million and $15 million, Routsis-Arroyo said.

The nonprofit has applied for another $2 million from the Florida Housing Finance Corp. The Florida Legislature created the corporation more than 20 years ago to help finance affordable housing for lower-income households and residents with special needs.

The money Catholic Charities has asked for from the USDA is part of a $5 million pot made available in the aftermath of last summer's hurricanes to build farmworker housing, Routsis-Arroyo said. There are hopes that another group will apply for the remaining $2 million to build another housing project in Hardee County, he said.

The USDA should decide in the next month whether to approve the money for Casa San Juan Bosco, he said.

"It's not set in stone that we'll receive the grant," Routsis-Arroyo said. "They've got concerns and we've got to work together to work them out and there is really a short time frame to be able to do that."

He said the project will incorporate an "innovative construction design" he hopes the USDA will approve. He wouldn't give any other details about the design.

Final grant applications must be submitted by month's end to the USDA. Catholic Charities plans to resubmit its application, addressing the concerns raised by the USDA.

The nonprofit hopes to get additional money for the project from the USDA's rural housing program in fiscal 2006.

A first step will be to raise the money needed to buy the land.

"It's a real nice piece of property," Routsis-Arroyo said. "The good thing is it's kind of like a meadow. It's plowed. There's not a lot of site work that would have to go into that."

He said the quicker his organization can move the better. Land and building costs are only escalating.

"I think affordable housing is a huge issue and a huge problem for the entire state of Florida," he said. "I mean it has always been a problem for farmworkers. But I even think everyday people who live in Florida and don't own a home right now may not be able to afford buying a home in another couple of years given the rising costs of houses."

Routsis-Arroyo said he hopes to see others step up to build affordable housing for farmworkers. If they don't, the state's growers could find themselves without enough workers and unable to survive.

"Even with the growth in Florida, agribusiness is your largest industry, with the exception of tourism," he said. "So Florida is dependent on having farmworkers to work the crops."