SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Tuesday will be the first meeting of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors since last week's deadly Half Moon Bay Shooting.
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Since then, a spotlight has focused on the struggle of farm workers, especially their substandard living conditions.
As local officials prepare to begin to discuss the issues, the push is on to make sure the calls for change aren't just political lip service.
Right now, Half Moon Bay has more than 400 units of affordable housing. According to new mandates from the state, there needs to be at least 50% more.
But land is scarce and not cheap on that portion of the coast. Any development needs approval from the California Coastal Commission.
Even then, there's the 1999 voter-approved measure that restricts the creation of housing in order to control growth.
All of these constraints make it difficult to get development projects started in Half Moon Bay, as advocates call for much-needed affordable housing to be made available for farm workers.
Some farmworkers were found to be living in shipping containers on site of the farms where they worked following last week’s shooting.
It's become clear to officials that there need to be major changes.
"What do we do to understand these communities, how do we partner with counties, how do counties provide a roadmap – building affordable housing – if there’s existing housing, making that housing stock much better," said San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa.
"And then realizing if we do this – there's a cost to it, a big cost to it, and we have to be all in," he said.
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