Laying the Foundation for Affordable Farmer Housing

Farmers and farm workers face extraordinary challenges in accessing affordable housing in the Hudson Valley’s inflated and competitive real estate market.  While home prices have been an increasing problem for the last decade in this region, recent Covid-related migration from urban centers has brought a major spike in rent prices, while significantly limiting the amount of available housing.  Deemed a “housing crisis,” this issue is well documented by local news sources and is an active conversation in state government.* 

The Hudson Valley is home to a rich community of small sustainable farms, largely producers of vegetables, livestock, and specialty products, and many of them first-generation farmers in their first ten years of operation.  This community is linked together by social ties and by common services, such as a regional CSA Coalition with 120+ member farms, a cooperative purchasing effort that sources supplies for 63 produce farms, and a well-used listserv run by the Hudson Valley Young Farmers Coalition with more than a thousand members.  This well-developed, collaborative community has extraordinary capacity and value - but needs immediate solutions for farmer housing in order to continue.

Responding to increasing housing stress among her colleagues, project collaborator and farmer Leslie Lewis collected interviews and stories with farmers in the Hudson Valley in winter of 2021. The results are moving stories that demonstrate the farmer experience of the broader housing crisis:

“I signed the lease on my current apartment the day after it was listed and it already had six other applicants, which demonstrates how competitive the housing market is. I signed this lease despite the cost of rent being 45% of my income (by definition an individual is housing insecure if 30-50% of income goes to housing costs), with the hopes that by the time the lease was up I would have found something I could afford. I was unable to find another rental to even match my current rent; I actively searched for over three months. I have an agricultural degree. I have served my country for two years in the Peace Corps. I have three years of experience in my field. I have a full time managerial position in my field. And I struggle to afford my rent. “

On top of wider barriers of unaffordability and lack of options, farm workers face special challenges in applying for housing.  Low wages, seasonal work terms, informal work commitments, and frequent job changes or moves are all common experiences of working on farms in this region, yet raise red flags for landlords concerned with reducing their risk:

“We don’t make enough money to look good on an application. I’ve been rejected from two places in the past month.”

“This isn’t an uncommon story. At most farms I’ve worked, the hiring process feels casual and contracts and offer letters are often not official. How am I supposed to apply for housing with that? I can’t.”

“It looks bad on housing applications when it says I’ve moved at least twice a year because any job in farming is seasonal so I have a season summer job then a winter job every year. I don’t know how to get out of this cycle and save money and have an application that looks appealing.”

The financial toll is high on farmworkers, and the farm managers responsible for providing their wages.  Beyond that, there is a serious emotional toll on workers in an otherwise challenging industry already known for burnout and personal sacrifice.

“It shouldn’t be so hard and so inaccessible and I’m so tired. I haven’t lived in the same space for more than 5 months in 4 years. This year alone, since January 2021 to now, I’ve lived in 4 places. It’s exhausting.”

The result is that in real time, farmers and farmworkers are leaving the region -- or giving up on agriculture altogether.

“We are beginning to worry we may not be able to afford to stay in the Hudson Valley.”

“Truthfully I do not foresee myself remaining in the Hudson Valley for more than one more year. Long-term I will move somewhere more affordable.”

“I have continued to face housing crises though my farming career that basically ended in me giving up on agriculture.” 

Our project premise is that members of our robust farming community are capable of pursuing long-term, community-controlled solutions to farmer housing, but need critical support to do so.  We intend to support development of an informed working group of farmers, and link them with a network of housing professionals and consultants to take further steps. We will also lead initial organizing efforts - including clarifying housing needs, assessing farmer and farmworker preferences for different types of housing solutions, and hosting a convening on next steps for farmer housing as our project nears completion.