Murray Announces $1.5 Million for Farmworker Housing

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray today announced that she has secured $1.5 million to address critical farmworker housing needs in Washington state. As the highest ranking Democrat on the Senate Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development (TTHUD) Appropriations subcommittee, Murray included the funding in the TTHUD Appropriations bill.

“While access to safe, affordable housing is a problem across Washington state, too many of our farmworkers and their families face especially difficult living conditions. These are not the kind of living conditions fitting for the people who help provide the food we and our families eat,” Senator Murray said. “I am pleased to be able to provide these federal dollars to improve the quality of living of our seasonal and migrant farmworkers.”

The funding will go to the Washington state Farmworker Housing Trust – an organization that Senator Murray was instrumental in founding– which brings together growers, farmworkers and advocates to address the long-term housing needs of farmworkers and thus create a better and more sustainable agricultural community in Washington state. The funding will support the Trust’s Farmworker Housing and Homeownership Initiative.