Mainstreet Radio's Laurel Druley reports on housing struggles some migrant workers find themselves in while working in the southern Minnesota town of Plainview. Four months out of the year, the population of 3,190 grows by more than 200 residents. Migrant workers come to town to can peas and corn at Lakeside Foods. But while the work is there, housing is not, leaving many temporary workers searching for a place to call home.
LAUREL DRULEY: Genoveva Flores de Gerero came with her daughter's family to Plainview a month ago. At a recent migrant festival in Plainview, she looked after her four granddaughters. The family of seven live in another relative's trailer and are having trouble paying the bills. Her son-in-law works at Lakeside, the town's canning plant. And her daughter is looking for a job.
GENOVEVA FLORES DE GERERO: [SPEAKING SPANISH]
LAUREL DRULEY: She says to pay the water, the light, and the trailer rental space is difficult. Right now, her son-in-law works short hours. So it's hard to make their payments.
Three years ago, Lakeside Foods purchased about 20 trailers to accommodate a small portion of its workers. The rest are at the mercy of the local housing market. Mary Ulland-Evans, Regional Housing Network Coordinator for Three Rivers Community Action, says affordable temporary housing is tough all over southeastern Minnesota.
MARY ULLAND-EVANS: The last couple of years has been really bad. We've heard of a lot more people doubling up. We'll have two, three, four families living in a two-bedroom trailer. I've heard of people renting out space in their barn for the migrant workers to stay in because they can't find an apartment or a house to rent. I know the Catholic church in Plainview has put people up in their community room while they're trying to access housing.
LAUREL DRULEY: Ulland-Evans adds some live in their cars for the summer, while others go to campgrounds. There's a long waiting list for apartments with short-term lease agreements. Three Rivers, a private nonprofit community action group, provides emergency shelter vouchers to help with temporary hotel costs.
She says the state housing and urban development dollars can only be used for people planning to become full-time Minnesota residents. Ulland-Evans says most people seeking affordable housing have problems with what she calls NIMBY, or Not In My Back Yard. She explains most seasonal workers looking for affordable housing face racial prejudice or discrimination because they're transient.
Paul Moore, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Plainview, helped coordinate the town's second migrant festival. Moore and several community members formed a migrant council two years ago to address the needs of the seasonal community. He says one of the council's goals is to break down barriers between the permanent residents and the migrant workers.
PAUL MOORE: A lot of us white folks don't speak Spanish. And I think that's the biggest barrier between building relationships between our communities. A lot of the Hispanics in Plainview are really invisible to the Caucasian community. And I don't think it's on purpose that the Caucasian community wants to not know about them. They're just invisible.
LAUREL DRULEY: Moore says most community members see the benefit of having migrant workers. Without them, he adds, Lakeside would probably not be in operation. Bill Arendt, General Manager at Lakeside Foods, remembers a time when they didn't have to rely on migrant help.
BILL ARENDT: When I first started with Lakeside back in the early '70s, we would take applications the first week of June. And we'd have 500, 600 applications. And now, basically, the ag community out there, there's just larger and larger farmers and less numbers out there. And if they have children, a lot of times, they're staying on the farm to help out there. So the labor situation, when it comes to seasonal operation, has gotten extremely difficult without the help of the people from Texas coming up.
LAUREL DRULEY: While Arendt discusses the employment issue at length, he's less forthcoming when asked about company-provided housing. Plainview isn't the only town with an affordable housing shortage. A couple months ago, a group of Owatonna migrant workers and local advocates called Centro Campesino, fed up with poor housing conditions, decided to develop their own migrant housing for four counties in southern Minnesota.
Owatonna's Chiquita Processed Foods dropped a crop from their production this year and closed one of its migrant camps. So some workers were left to live in basements, cars, and garages. The group is working in collaboration with a University of Minnesota design and planning professor to build adequate facilities. Laurel Druley, Minnesota Public Radio, Plainview.
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