Redwood City – The County will seek $5 million in state funds to help local farmworkers become homeowners.

That is the unanimous decision today by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. The five-member Board voted to authorize staff to apply for a $5 million grant that would fund the purchase of manufactured homes, potentially in partnership with the City of Half Moon Bay.

These homes would be located on an as-yet unidentified area of the coast. Local farmworkers – including families and individuals displaced by the January mass shooting – would be eligible to live in and purchase the homes.

“The Joe Serna grant program represents a tremendous opportunity for the County,” said Supervisor Dave Pine, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. “If state funding is granted, we can begin to address the chronic housing shortage among our essential agricultural workforce.”

The County is seeking funds from the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program, a competitive funding opportunity from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. (The program is named after a late mayor of Sacramento who grew up as a farmworker.)

The state is expected to announce grant recipients in June 2023. The County is working with the City of Half Moon Bay to identify potential sites.

The state’s grant program is designed to “assist lower-income agricultural employees and their families to become or remain homeowners.”

Michelle Durand
Chief Communications Officer
mdurand@smcgov.org