DAYTONA BEACH NEWS-JOURNAL

September 6, 2005

Substandard housing battle could leave fern cutters homeless
By MELISSA GRIGGS
Staff Writer

PIERSON -- State inspectors trained their sights on roach-infested apartments last week, leaving some Pierson area residents to wonder where fern cutters will live if their substandard housing is shut down.

"I think it is terrible the health department is fining the growers," said Felipe Aguilar, a former fern cutter who now works in construction. "We are the ones who pay the price."

It's a familiar lament, said Steve Kirk, president of Rural Neighborhoods, a nonprofit group based in Miami-Dade.

"Without enforcement, households face poor conditions. If there is enforcement, workers face homelessness," he said.

Inspectors' most recent target, Albin Hagstrom and Son Inc., has until Friday to correct numerous violations of migrant housing laws at its company-owned apartment complex.

Inspectors found cockroach infestations, broken windows and moldy bathrooms with missing showerheads and faucet handles at the Hagstrom apartments, according to a report by Robert Maglievaz, an inspector for the Volusia County Health Department. Seven adults and one child were crowded in one apartment, exceeding occupancy limits, Maglievaz said.

Richard Hagstrom, president of one of Volusia County's largest ferneries, did not return phone calls.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal described the apartments and chronicled other poor housing conditions among workers in the $70-million-a-year fern industry in Northwest Volusia.

Before the News-Journal stories in late March, the county Health Department, which falls under the state Department of Health, listed only one migrant labor camp in Volusia County. Now, the Health Department has sent notices to seven landlords telling them their property falls under state law and will be inspected. Maglievaz said he will continue to inspect housing over the next few weeks.

But as state inspectors continue their crackdown on migrant housing violations, some wonder what the ultimate solution is for Pierson. Maglievaz said Pierson Town Council Chairman Samuel Bennett, a fernery owner, told him he evicted three farm worker families from his mobile homes rather than repair problems to the exterior, including a septic tank that was not properly sealed.

If other growers follow suit, where will the workers live?

"It is a huge problem and not one unique to Pierson. When camps are closed, there has to be an alternative," said Gregory Schell, an attorney with the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project in Lake Worth.

Farm worker advocates say they often hear excuses for not improving housing, such as there won't be homes for workers.

Estevan Galvan in the Pierson office of the Farmworkers Association of Florida Inc. said despite the initial hardship to the families, stricter enforcement of housing laws will benefit all workers in the end.

Armand Harnois, chief code officer in Lake Worth, understands the problems facing Pierson and other Northwest Volusia County towns. Strict enforcement of migrant housing laws in Palm Beach County about five years ago resulted in fewer places for workers to live.

"When the migrant camps broke up, the workers all came into the city of Lake Worth," he said. "So, over the last five years, the city has gotten tough with code enforcement."

In some communities with large farm worker populations, government has been the answer. In others, private funding or nonprofit organizations have provided housing. In most places, some combination of the two has worked. And, in all, recognition of the problem and a commitment by local leaders to solve it was key.

"We had an influx of workers who came into our community and we lacked affordable housing," said Esmelralda Serrata, director of the Collier Housing Authority. "We had a lot of crowded situations with people in trailers, creating blighted neighborhoods."

Serrata said the county applied for federal grants, raised private donations and allocated county money to build a $4 million, 192-dormitory style facility a year ago. The workers paid $7 a day to live in the dormitory. The housing authority also oversees 640 single-family homes for workers.

Schell of the Migrant Justice Project said in some areas, growers band together and form an association to provide housing for workers.

The past year was a particularly hard one for fernery owners. After widespread damage caused by the hurricanes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency offered low-interest loans to many of the ferneries and nurseries, but not outright cash.

In 2001, the New Hope Villas, a rent-subsidized apartment complex opened for migrant workers in Northwest Volusia. But, because the $6 million project was largely federally funded, prospective tenants must show they are legally in the country, which knocks out most of the fernery workers.

Kirk's nonprofit group relies on some federal money, but also seeks other funds that don't come with strings attached. The housing organization is the largest statewide developer of housing for agriculture workers, with more than 800 apartment units for workers, who pay rent below the going market rate, usually about $400 a month.

"In Hillsborough and Fort Pierce, local government officials came to us and said, 'We have a problem.' We became partners," Kirk said.

"If we do that, we can solve the problem -- not between now and Christmas -- but we can solve it."