Farmers say housing rules are costing them workers

Andre Houssney, owner of Jacob Springs Farm in Boulder, said he frequently receives phone calls with the same pitch:

“‘Hey, I have an RV, I’d like to come and work on your farm and learn from you,’” Houssney said. “I go, ‘Well, I can’t park you anywhere.’”

It’s not that Houssney doesn’t want another set of hands. He said local rules have overlooked farms like his. They limit housing on farmland, while farmworkers are priced out of typical housing in the area — where average rent runs about $2,400 a month, nearly a quarter above the national average, according to Zillow.

After receiving complaints from farmers for years, Boulder County is considering changing its land-use code to support housing solutions for farmworkers. The issue isn’t new: according to a county planning report, farmworker housing was flagged as a top priority in a 2018 county review of agricultural rules but was outside the project’s scope.

Right now, the county is surveying farmers and farmworkers through Oct. 30, with a public hearing before county commissioners set for December.

Current rules allow some agricultural worker housing in unincorporated Boulder County, but under specific conditions. An agricultural worker accessory dwelling unit (ADU) generally requires a Limited Impact Special Review, and applicants must show that the worker is substantially employed on the farm and that another household is necessary to operate it.

The rules apply only in unincorporated Boulder County, not within incorporated cities and towns. In March, county commissioners authorized staff to explore whether those regulations should be updated to create more “safe, practical and appropriately scaled” housing options for agricultural workers.

Sabrina Torres, Boulder County’s agricultural outreach planner, said in an email that the county is increasingly hearing about farms struggling to hire and keep workers and that housing is a significant part of that challenge.

“For a farm operation, losing experienced workers or not being able to bring on people with the right skills because housing isn’t available can have very real and very fast consequences for a farm’s ability to stay afloat,” Torres wrote.

The county notes that housing costs are driven by many factors beyond land-use rules. According to the current Census of Agriculture, 588 hired farmworkers were counted in Boulder County in 2022. Five years earlier, it counted more than 1,200.

Owners of diversified farms, which often sell food locally, say they are most affected by the zoning rules, because they tend to require more human labor than commodity farms, which often supply the larger agricultural industry.

“We’re an everything farm,” Houssney said.

Jacob Springs Farm raises dairy cows, beef cattle, lambs, pigs and chickens, and grows grains and vegetables, then processes much of it on-site into foods like soups, tamales and bread.

Houssney said the farm has 15 to 20 people involved. But they can’t house nearly that many. There’s a house on the property that they’ve separated into three units — the most he said the rules allow.

Houssney said he’s lost countless employees who wanted to stay at the farm. At least three have moved to the San Luis Valley, where housing is cheaper.

“When you check in with them, they go, ‘Man, it sucks. It’s so remote,’” Houssney said. “‘But I’ve got work and housing is cheap.’”

Some workers try to live in vans or RVs, he said, but struggle to find legal places to park. He has received about 20 code violation notices, nearly all of which he said disappeared after he provided more information.

“At one point I had an entire staff member whose job was to keep up with the county code,” Houssney said. “And that’s just absurd.”

Just down the road from Jacob Springs Farm, Alice Maritz Starek and Karel Starek own The Golden Hoof. They have an ADU that is also split into three single-person units, which they were able to build by receiving an exemption for how many structures are allowed. They built the ADU at the same time as their own house just a few dozen feet away.

But just like at Jacob Springs Farm, they need more housing — and they say it won’t be another ADU.

“When I think about building an ADU, I think, impossible,” Alice said. “I’m not even gonna try.”

Alice said that building their current ADU was an enormous hassle. Permits took years to get and racked up fees. 

Because their homes are built from straw bales, they also had to pay an engineer to certify their wood, a requirement Alice said “had nothing to do with how strong the beams were.”

Alice said applying for permits also carries risks.

“Farmers like us won’t apply for a building permit because if you apply for a building permit, then you invite all these different bureaucrats onto your farm to analyze all the different aspects of your farm,” Alice said.

Houssney said the problem goes beyond his farm. He said many of the farms in his area have to resort to illegal housing, or housing in a density that isn’t legal.

“We’re not talking about slum housing for agricultural migrant workers,” Houssney said. “The issue in this community is providing basic decent housing for people who want to farm.”

Alice and Karel pointed to mobile homes, tiny houses and RVs as potential alternatives, particularly for seasonal workers and those with partners or families. For Houssney, having more flexible housing options would make it easier to keep the workers on farms like his.

“Loosening these restrictions will have a direct and immediate impact on our staffing,” Houssney said, “because being able to house farmworkers is the dominant cost in terms of having staff. Their housing is their biggest cost.”

Houssney said the debate ultimately comes down to whether the community wants local agriculture enough to make it possible for farmers and workers to stay.

“There’s an old joke: You ask a farmer, ‘What would you do if you won the lottery?’ And he goes, ‘Well, I guess I could afford to keep farming for a little bit longer,’” Houssney said. “If this is a community value — we need farmers to care for this land, we need farmers to grow food for us — then we need housing for farmers.”