Farmworkers deserve stable housing in Nipomo development

Housing 16 seasonal farmworkers in each “single-family” home in the Mads Farm development might not be ideal (“Nipomo farmworker housing sparks neighborhood complaints,” April 2).

However, I encourage Nipomo residents to be more empathetic toward the farmworkers who will be living there. Do you know how hard these farmworkers have to toil each day? They perform back-breaking labor on their feet all day, usually with no shade, to harvest the food that we eat. After that work, I doubt that they would have the energy for rowdy parties in the evenings that would disturb other local residents.

Indeed, as Jason Resnick, vice president of the agricultural trade association Western Growers said in the article, these workers come here because they want to work hard to support their families and better their futures, not to party or commit crimes. Please keep in mind that these hard-working people are an important part of our existence, as they do hard labor that most Americans balk at in order to put food in our grocery stores. They deserve kindness and a decent place to live near where they work.

This story was originally published April 2, 2016 at 8:54 PM with the headline "Farmworkers deserve stable housing in Nipomo development."