SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – "Deplorable." That's the word used by a San Mateo County Supervisor to describe the living conditions of farmworkers at one of the two mass shooting sites in Half Moon Bay.
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The mass shooting where seven were killed and one was injured on January 23 has shined a light on the housing conditions of the farmworkers who fell victim to the gunshots. A spokesperson for the mushroom farm Terra Garden, where one of the shootings took place, has admitted their farmworker housing isn't up to code.
At Terra Garden, workers live in shacks, some without a bathroom or even plumbing. "This is a humanitarian issue that these people are living in dire poverty with nothing to their names," said Darlene Tenes, founder of the Farmworkers Caravan. "We are not a third world country."
Tenes advocates for farmworkers, many of which are undocumented and do not have a voice. "It's very different than say workers at VTA who have union representatives or HR people or they’re advocating for themselves," she told KCBS Radio. "These people don’t have all of that. They are just on their own basically."
The San Mateo County Health Department has no record of any violations at the farm. Code enforcement is conducting an investigation this week with the possibility of buildings being red-tagged.
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