Oregon regulators have decided against prohibiting farmworker housing within 500 feet of livestock facilities, so long as kitchens, toilets, faucets, showers and beds are kept inside.

The change was one of several revisions to farmworker housing rules recently announced by the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Most housing on dairy farms has indoor water and plumbing, so complying with the requirement shouldn’t pose a problem, said Tami Kerr, executive director of the Oregon Dairy Farmers Association.

“Overall, I am going to take this as a win,” Kerr said.

The proposed ban on housing near livestock barns would have been “devastating” for dairies, as a large proportion of their owners and workers live within 500 feet of such facilities, she said.

“Our animals demand and deserve care around the clock. We need to have our homes close to care for the animals,” Kerr said. “The implication it’s a danger to live next to a farm is wrong.”

The prohibition caused such widespread consternation when it was initially proposed last year that dairy farmers took time away from the corn harvest to provide their input on the proposal, she said.

That information likely proved crucial in getting OSHA to change its mind about the livestock provision, Kerr said. “I think they were surprised by the potential impact.”

The Oregon Farm Bureau considers the revised livestock provision the most significant among the changes to OSHA’s farmworker housing regulations, said Jenny Dresler, lobbyist for the organization.

“It means that workers who work with livestock and on dairies will not find themselves unhoused as a result of these rules,” Dresler said.

Additional expenses

However, OSHA’s other revisions won’t do much to diminish the $400,000 to $1.4 million in housing upgrades the regulations will still require on average, she said.

“Family farmers don’t have the operating capital they need to comply with this,” Dresler said.

For example, the original proposal would have required 50 square feet of housing per occupant, up from 40 square feet under the previous rules. The revised rules, which were recently finalized, keep the current 40-square-foot requirement, but only if the housing is for families with children under 17.

Impacts of regulations

In practicality, such changes won’t make it any easier for farmers to afford major structural upgrades, which means they’ll simply offer existing housing to fewer workers, Dresler said.

As a result, up to 50% of the state’s existing farmworker housing capacity will be lost.

“The real shame of this rule is it’s going to eliminate a lot of free and low-cost housing,” she said. “These rules are going to render workers homeless.”

While lawmakers approved $5 million in grants for farmworker housing improvements in 2023, that amount will be “woefully insufficient” in light of the anticipated above-ground construction costs, Dresler said.

The requirements are expected to have additional “ripple effects” due to the need for new septic systems and drain fields, which must be engineered, she said.

Furthermore, the grants aren’t available to growers employing H-2A foreign guest workers, who operate about two-thirds of the state’s farmworker housing, even though the new rules “apply to everybody,” Dresler said.

According to Oregon OSHA, the Farm Bureau’s cost range “leaves out important nuances and context,” as the expenses will vary widely and some employers have already made the required improvements, said Aaron Corvin, public information officer for the agency.

“We expect employers will make site-specific and operation-specific decisions on how best to minimize costs for certain rule provisions to come into compliance on a case-by-case basis,” Corvin said in an email.

To give employers more time to comply, the agency also delayed the implementation of the new standards, which are meant to align with federal requirements, he said.

“The new regulatory framework increases protective measures across the board for workers and agricultural labor housing occupants while maintaining a stable operating environment for employers,” Corvin said.