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LEELANAU (
STATE CUTS IMPACTING MIGRANT HOUSING
Bruce Price was testing out his new, home-made strawberry washer made
from spare parts when a young man with a heavy Spanish accent stepped
into Price’s new outbuilding and fruit stand in Lake Leelanua.
After some small talk, the man asked if Price had any rooms available
for migrant workers.
Unfortunately for the visitor and his family, the answer was, “No.”
“You should never come without calling.
You’re the fifth person who’s asked,” said Price, who nonetheless
continued the conversation for several monutes and tried to steer the
man toward housing. He and
his family had secured a job processing cherries for Leelanau Fruit
company during the harvest.
Price, like many farmers, offers housing for many migrant workers who
swarm into Leelanau County as crops begin to ripen.
More often than not, families put up on the Price farm end up
working elsewhere.
Sometimes they just stay for a few weeks, while others, such as the
growing number that work in grape fields, stay through the fall.
Seever cuts in the state budget will mean many of the workers helping
with crops in Michigan won’t be staying in housing that has been
licensed through the Michigan Migrant Labor Housing program, which had
to cut $150,000 from its operating budget late in the fiscal year.
However, the cuts shouldn’t mean a drop in the number of units available
for transient workers, according to Art Hulkoff, program manager for the
Migrant Labor Housing division under the Michigan Department of
Agriculture.
Migrant housing is an important part of the business of agriculture in
Michigan. The state
regulates some 810 migrant housing sites, and in the past each unit had
to be inspected before occupied for the season, Hulkoff said.
Budget cuts, however, mean that state inspectors can only get to
about half of the remaining unlicensed facilities, according to a letter
dated May 29 sent to owners of remaining unlicensed facilities across
the state. Hulkoff
estimates that 75 to 100 housing sites in Michigan will be allowed to
host families while unlicensed, including the two cinder block buildings
owned by Price. Complaints
to the state will trigger inspections.
Unfortunately for Price, he received the May 29 letter
the day after opening a June 5 letter from the Department of
Agriculture that left the impression unlicensed facilities would not be
allowed to Open. Price had
already contracted with area farmers to put up migrant workers – and so
he called Hulkoff an earful of his thoughts.
“Yes, I did talk to him,” recalled Hulkoff.
“We’re trying to do the best we can with the resources we have.”
Hulkoff said the inspections determine if units are equipped to safely
house migrants, checking on such basic requirements as sewer hookups,
running water and fire alarms.
Price doesn’t mind the inspections.
But he said not allowing a sizeable share of migrant housing in
Leelanau County to open would cause problems during the fruit harvests.
“Had I gotten that first letter (earlier), I wouldn’t haven been upset,”
said Price. He also
explained a little about seasonal agricultueral workers in Leelanau
County. Virtually all are
United States citizens, and most are from Texas.
He believes none out of 10 have all the paperwork needed to work
here. Most of the other 10
percent are missing a Social Security card, deiver’s license or both.
Hispanic families come here for two related reasons:
Leelanau has work, and the places in Texas where they winter do
not.
“I’ve heard a lot of them say that there are no jobs now in
Brownsville,” said Price.
While minimum wage might not sound like a good income compared to many
Leelanau County jobs, a migrant family with children old enough to work
can put away some money during the cherry harvest.
For instance, Price said, a couple with three or four children
who are old enough to work could make $3,000 a week with over time.
“That’s $9,000 you could gross in three weeks,” said Price.
In many cases, farmers and processors pay their migrant housing costs –
if they can find housing.
Despite budget cuts in the state licensing program, established migrant
housing units should all be available. |