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GRAND JUNCTION (
Farm worker building sits empty in
OLATHE — The Montrose County Housing Authority led the way in the 1990s
to build a 72-bed dormitory in Olathe for farm workers. But now those
workers can’t stay there.
All of the workers who pick Olathe’s famous sweet corn come from out of
the country on guest worker visas, said Noelle Hagan, housing authority
board member.
Because of heightened interest in immigration issues, it came to light
in the past few years that a 1949 law prohibits foreign workers from
staying in the dorm, Hagan said, and it’s been mostly empty for the past
three years.
“The statute says that workers housed in that facility have to be
citizens or permanent residents,” she said. “Back in the ’50s and ’60s
there may have been a lot of workers who were citizens, but that’s not
true any more. We have this situation because of an outdated statute.”
That situation has been getting worse all the time for Olathe corn
growers, Hagan said, because the guest worker program already was
flawed.
“It’s very bureaucratic, and sometimes they get their workers by the
skin of their teeth, just in time for the harvest,” she said.
As the dormitory sits empty, it costs the housing authority money, and
there is no solution in sight, Hagan said, despite dozens of letters to
local, state and federal authorities.
The housing authority got new hope last month, however, when President
Bush announced the overhaul of the guest worker program.
Hagan, local governments and growers decided it’s time to act. In about
a week, a group that includes Hagan, Montrose and Delta county corn
growers and local government officials will descend on Washington, D.C.,
and blitz the offices of Congress, particularly those of Sen. Ken
Salazar, Sen Wayne Allard and Rep. John Salazar, all of Colorado.
All they want is to omit one word from Title V of the Housing Act of
1949. As written, those eligible to stay in federally funded farm
dormitories are “citizens of the United States or persons legally
admitted for permanent residence.”
Taking out the word “permanent” will allow temporary workers to stay in
the dorm, Hagan said, and it will ease restrictions at other
government-funded housing throughout the country.
When Hagan and the others go to Washington, they’ll have a packet
containing a resolution signed by a coalition that includes growers,
local governments and individuals. The resolution says because “the
notoriously inefficient guest worker visa program” is to be streamlined,
the word “permanent” should be removed from the housing act.
A presentation titled “Farm Labor Housing Crisis” also will be given.
The first page spells out the problem: “We have a federally funded
72-bed dormitory sitting spotlessly empty in the agricultural heartland
of the Western Slope, waiting for workers who are eager to utilize the
facility, but are statutorily excluded from admission due to their
status.”
The second page is more to the point: “No workers, no food?”
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