An investigation reveals that lax enforcement of laws meant to ensure livable farmworker housing in San Mateo County, California, allowed for dangerous conditions that contributed to a deadly mass shooting. The article highlights the lack of enforcement, despite clear state regulations, and the vulnerability of farmworkers who fear speaking out against working conditions for fear of losing their homes and jobs.
The structure where mass shooting suspect Chunli Zhao, 66, allegedly lived with his wife, is seen from this drone view at California Terra Gardens in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023. Zhao was booked on seven counts of murder after the Jan. 23 shooting. There’s no question the employees on two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms lived in desperate circumstances. Many of their homes were flimsy shacks propped up on wooden pallets. The roofs leaked.
“There are laws on the books, but they just aren’t enforced,” said Ann López, director of the nonprofit Center for Farmworker Families in Santa Cruz County. “I see the issue as systemic.” “These are large farms,” Callagy said. “We don’t typically have a right to go onto a location in an exploratory look for housing or violations. Mostly it’s complaint driven.”
“I think finding unpermitted housing is one of the things that counties do, and penalizing people who construct housing without permits,” Alkon said. “It’s kind of their job, in my opinion, to seek out these exploitative practices and find them and enforce their laws. But that doesn’t tend to be the way they work.”
The company, however, isn’t new to farming in California. State records show California Terra Garden was incorporated in 2013 as a privately-owned “fresh mushroom wholesale” company, initially in Foster City and most recently in Commerce. It lists Xianmin Guan as chief executive and Liming Zhu as secretary. They also are associated with a Pescadero Terra Garden Inc. “mushroom farm,” down the coast from Half Moon Bay, incorporated in 2015, as well as Ventura Terra Garden Inc.
Employees have said the housing on the farm has been there for years. It wasn’t clear if that housing is up to code — and calls by this news organization to the company’s CEO and registered agent, Grace Tung, have not been returned this week. The company was incorporated in California in 1997, and it is not clear if they run other farms in the state.
San Mateo County officials have long been aware of subpar farmworker housing in at least some locations. Don Horsley, a former county sheriff and supervisor, wassaying some of the housing was “abysmal” and that “we couldn’t put people in jail with these standards.” He worked to develop a grant program to help farms build or refurbish farmworker housing.
FARMWORKER HOUSING CALIFORNIA SAN MATEO COUNTY MASS SHOOTING LABOR LAWS
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