According to the survey about the farmworkers inside of Salinas Valley and Pajaro Valley between 2001 and 2012(Coile, 2016), farmworkers have many housing problems. Especially the living conditions of farmworkers for example, one statistical data study states that more than 40% farmworkers reported the problem with plumbing, roaches, cracking, and peeling. In addition, the average salary of farmworker is around $20,000, but they spend more than 50% of their income in housing expenses alone, which has become a problem for farmworkers that can’t afford housing because of the high cost of living in Salinas. That is why we propose to build several types of sustainable homes that best fit their needs, such as homes for couples, homes for families with children, and homes for H2-A workers by adopting a technique from a company in Colombia called “Conceptos Plasticos”. By producing materials from recycled plastic we can greatly reduce the cost and time of construction, which in turn helps us reduce our price. There is a large demand for affordable housing in Salinas since housing costs are on the rise and are not in proportion with the increase of minimum wage. There are 29,030 farmworkers in Salinas Valley that need affordable housing (Farm Worker, 2016). Giving us a decent size market potential for us to work with and if we decide to expand the Monterey County we are looking at well over 50,000 farm workers. From our STEEPL analysis we have concluded that our greatest opportunities come from the environment as well as the Salinas social trend. Farmworkers have higher family values and would take advantage of our low-cost housing. What is more, by building homes from recycled plastic we show that we are an environmentally friendly company that cares about the community. However, the highest threat REALM Housing face is the legal aspect. We could possibly face high fees and strict regulations against recycled plastic housing. We have decided to focus on leasing land from local cattle landowners or any land that is not being used to its full potential. The homes are going to be temporary so no heavy duty construction is needed. Thus, it gives us full control of how we develop our homes and how many people can live inside the homes. Our main focus is to provide homes for H2-A visa workers for our first fiscal year. Therefore, our sale forecast will be based on 100 individuals and it’s common for visa holders to work for 9 months and then return home. We will be charging $400 per worker each month and plan on housing two workers per home. We also plan to incorporate family homes for the second fiscal year and we will be charging $800 per month for each family home. In the third fiscal year, we will plan to expand on both concepts if our homes prove to be safe and suitable for farmworkers.
Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.
Sustainable City Years Program Contact Info
University Faculty Contact
Dante Digregorio
Business
Professor, College of Business
ddigregorio@csumb.edu
Local Government / Community Contact
Jennifer Coile