Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Hoisted By Their Own Petard

From Wikipedia:Shakespeare’s phrase, “hoisted with his own petard” is an idiom that means “to be harmed by one’s own plan” or “to fall into one’s own trap.”For those of you, (including myself until I looked it up) who do not know what a “petard” is. A petard an explosive device formerly used in warfare to blow in a door or gate, or to form a breach in a wall, etc., and sometimes it backfired and it blew up and killed those who were setting it up.

As almost everyone knows, California, especially in its Central Valley, has a very large agricultural economy. There are many crops to pick, and according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, agriculture employed a year-round average of 70,000 workers in California last year. Who picks these crops? In years past these agricultural workers were mainly illegals, mainly single men, who would live cheaply so that they could send most of their earning home. Local communities as well as the state of California have turned a blind eye to these illegals, and now there is a problem (acting a bit like a petard). In some Central Valley towns, apartment rents have risen approximately 28% since 2015. Who are renting a large number of these apartments? . . . illegal farm workers. Why such a significant increase?

As with most economic questions, the answer usually revolves around “supply and demand,” and this is no different. For years in California the supply of low income housing has not kept up with its population growth, due partially to state and local regulations (another petard?) In addition in recent years there has been an increasing group of agricultural workers with H-2A visas, and thus an increasing demand for limited housing. According to that same WSJ article, use of the H-2A visa program has been steadily increasing in California in recent years with the Labor Department certifying nearly 19,000 applications in 2018, up 24%.Employers have been hiring more of these H-2A visa workers as they are more dependable compared to illegals, who can be deported, and who have been having more difficulty getting back into the U.S. if they return to their home country.

Okay so H-2A visa workers have been replacing illegals . . . why does that effect the cost of housing? Actually, the answer is quite simple – employers are required to provide housing for their H-2A visa workers, and this requirement drives up demand for and subsequently drives up the cost of housing. Landlords who own the apartments, prefer H-2A workers, because farmers are willing to pay higher rents in order to house these H-2A workers, and do so more reliably. One farmer planned to use his own farmland to construct housing for his H-2A workers, but California’s strict environmental regulations precluded him from doing so (another petard?).

What are the consequences for these illegal workers who now cannot afford housing? The short answer is that they either return to their home country, or they become homeless. And because of California’s liberal social handout programs ( yet again, another petard!) most stay and become part of an ever increasing homeless population. 

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