An investigation by the Austin American-Statesman newspaper says that, despite a Texas state law intended to assure migrant farmworkers have clean and safe housing, “many housing facilities elude the reach of the state’s limited inspection effort.”
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, responsible for inspecting farmworker housing, “hasn’t levied a single enforcement action against operators of migrant farmworker facilities, even after they fail inspections,” said the newspaper. “State law spells out a high threshold for enforcement action, resulting in zero fines since at least 2005.”
An estimated nine out of 10 migrant farmworkers lack access to licensed housing, said the paper. The legislature provided no funding for migrant housing inspections, and the housing department spent less than $2,500 in 2015 on the inspections. Daniela Dwyer, head of the farmworker program at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, told the Statesman, “We have an agency that doesn’t go out and look, that doesn’t catch people out of compliance, so there is no incentive even to get a permit.”