Special Notice / Hearing: None_
Vote Required: 4/5ths
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Raymond Hodges, Director of Housing
Subject: Measure K: Allocate $2,000,000 of renewed funding for the County's Farm Labor Housing Loan Program
RECOMMENDATION:
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Measure K: Recommendation to:
A) Adopt a resolution:
1. Allocating $2,000,000 in Measure K reserves to relaunch the County's Farm Labor Housing Loan Program (the "Program"); and
2. Authorizing the Director of the Department of Housing, or designee(s), acting in consultation with the County Attorney, to negotiate and execute all agreements, documents, certificates and amendments necessary and advisable to effectuate loans to eligible Program participants within the scope of funding and Program guidelines in Attachment A authorized pursuant to this resolution; and
B) Approve an Appropriation Transfer Request (ATR) in the amount of $2,000,000 from Measure K reserves to fund the Program.
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BACKGROUND:
Many of the farmworkers in San Mateo County qualify as very low-income and struggle to find safe and affordable housing, adequate food, health care, and reliable transportation.
In 2014, the County created the Farm Labor Housing Pilot Program (later renamed the "Farm Labor Housing Loan Program" or the "Program"), designed to address the need for affordable agricultural workforce housing. The Program invested nearly $3,000,000 to provide forgivable loans to repair or replace existing agricultural workforce housing for very low-income farmworkers. In the ensuing years, the Program was expanded and revised to also include loans for the construction of new housing and other changes based on feedback from the community, stakeholders, and the Board. As of 2024, the Program had funded the rehabilitation and construction of 16 farmworker housing units.
In the spring of 2023, the County created the Farmworker Housing Compliance Task Force to identify and inspect all farmworker housing u...
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