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This Speakout has not been edited

By Al Gold, Executive Director Colorado Rural Housing Development Corporation

Another growing season has arrived in Colorado, and with it hundreds of hard-working individuals and families who work long, exhausting days to plant, cultivate and harvest our crops.

Colorado is largely a rural state, and migrant farm workers are the backbone of the rural economy. They're part of the reason Colorado is among the top 10 states for producing agricultural products such as apples, peaches, pears, sweet corn and onions. Agriculture contributes nearly $16 billion annually to our economy, according to the Colorado Department of Agriculture.

Many of our crops grow in southern Colorado's San Luis Valley - the largest and highest alpine valley in the world capable of producing controlled crops.

The San Luis Valley also is home to the nation's largest and most innovative migrant farm worker housing developments - Tierra Nueva in the town of Center and Tierra Nueva II in Alamosa. Together, they provide safe, affordable homes for hundreds of migrant workers and their families.

This helps stabilize Colorado's farm worker population in an increasingly tight labor market.

In many parts of the country, farm workers migrate from place to place because of deplorable living conditions. They spend the growing season sleeping on cardboard mattresses or in cars as they search for a decent place to live while they work.

A lack of adequate housing impacts the availability of labor, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars to farmers and the economies they support.

That's not the case in the San Luis Valley, where the Colorado Rural Housing Development Corporation's nationally recognized Tierra Nueva neighborhoods help stabilize the migrant farm worker population, the local economy and the entire community.

Here, employers have a reliable source of farm workers who return season after season because of stable living conditions. And, many farm workers with families now stay year-round instead of leaving for the winter.

This means business owners don't have to spend additional dollars re-training workers each growing season, and farm workers can live with dignity. The unique housing developments are a place to call home. They are well-designed and

well-maintained. In fact, Tierra Nueva holds a distinguished American Institute of Architects national award for superior design achievement.

It also is the only farm worker housing showcased in a Washington D.C. exhibit at the National Building Museum for demonstrating that low-cost housing doesn't have to mean low-quality housing and that good design benefits residents and the broader community.

For example, Tierra Nueva features Saguache County's first daycare facility. It also has a county nurse's office and a community center that offers a computer learning lab and financial literacy classes. And, the popular Azteca de Oro restaurant, with its authentic Mexican food buffet for $7 a person, helps the community embrace farm workers - encouraging them to sit side-by-side as part of a solid community to which everyone contributes.

CRHDC, a member of the nationwide NeighborWorks network of organizations that revitalize communities across America, participates in the NeighborWorks rural initiative to enhance housing and economic development in rural areas. In its first five years, the rural initiative generated more than $1 billion in investment in rural communities across America.

With more than 500 units of migrant farm worker housing in Colorado, CRHDC has helped create a stable work force for local farmers facing a stretched labor market by providing safe, affordable living conditions for farm workers and their families.

Here's food for thought. Colorado farm workers and ranchers help feed the world, exporting nearly $900 million in products. It's a good investment - in capital and humanity - to provide them a decent place to lay their heads at night.

Al Gold is the executive director of the Colorado Rural Housing Development Corporation in Westminster, Colo. - a member of the national NeighborWorks network. He grew up in the San Luis Valley, is the son of migrant farm workers and attended the University of Colorado on a scholarship for children of farm workers. Housing for farm workers

READER COMMENTS

Without these workers you would be out picking your own food - stooped in the sun ten hours a day trying to make a better life for your family. Are you willing to do the work they do every day for the money they make? Probably not which is why they are here. WAKE UP

Are these guest workers related to Paris Hilton..again their being accomadated on a silver platter. I can see decent housing..but a town house? Better than American Citizens living in Denvers Housing projects.
Come on lets make then real comfortable..at the expence of the taxpayer!

many of these workers kids get health care here where thier parents work, and who do you think PAYS FOR THAT?

How many of these "workers" are illegal?

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