10/30/06 Providing a Strong Infrastructure

Providing a strong infrastructure. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. While the politicians debate the future of guestworker programs in the U.S., farmers that deal with migrant workers are getting a boost in providing safe and decent housing for those workers. Pat Arnold is with the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. ARNOLD: The program that I work on is called the Farmworker Housing Infrastructure Loan Program and it was funded in the 2005 Legislative Session and it provides funding for on-farm migrant farmworker housing that is grower owned and operated. The loans may be used for infrastructure costs, such as septic, drinking water, site preparation, and electric entrance. ARNOLD: And it can be for housing that exists now that needs upgrading for some reason or it can be for new housing and it can also pay for some site prep and foundations. Deadline for the loan application is December 15 and according to Arnold, the turn around time is fairly quick. ARNOLD: We will review all the completed applications and decide which ones we're actually going to fund and hopefully people are going to know if they are going to be funded by early January which you know should be time enough to get through the construction processes for the '07 harvest. We are able to deal with the specifics of each project and work through the specific problems. There are no two alike and we're able to make fairly quick funding decisions. Last year, the program loaned over $900,000 to 11 growers, resulting in the construction of over 600 new beds for the 2006 season. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.