TO: Napa County Housing Commission
FROM: Emma Moyer, Interim Executive Director
REPORT BY: Emma Moyer, Interim Executive Director
SUBJECT: Update from the Female Farmworker Housing Subcommittee and appointing a new Subcommittee member
RECOMMENDATION
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Receive an update from the Female Farmworker Housing Subcommittee and appoint a new Subcommittee member.
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BACKGROUND
The Napa County Housing Authority (Authority) owns three farmworker centers (Centers) that have historically provided room and board to single, unaccompanied male farmworkers. However, data from the 2024 Napa County Farmworker Housing Needs & Impacts Assessment demonstrated that female farmworkers make up approximately twenty (20) percent of the labor force.
In late 2025, the Housing Commission established a subcommittee (Subcommittee) consisting of commissioners (Putnam, Myers, and Silacci) and Authority staff to explore options to house the growing female farmworker labor force at the Centers. Each Center consists of three buildings, including (a) dormitory wings (either ground level or two story), (b) a multipurpose room with commercial kitchen and recreational area, and (c) two or three staff apartments. The Centers are subject to Ordinance 18.104.305, which requires the Centers to be occupied for no more than three hundred thirty (330) days in a calendar year, and may be occupied by no more than sixty (60) farmworkers at any one time. The Centers currently only provide lodging for male farmworkers.
The Subcommittee's current scope of work includes evaluating the needs of female farmworkers through surveys and interviews, conducting site visits to Centers, and researching best practices from other agricultural region housing programs.
The purpose of today's report is to receive an update from the Subcommittee on their work to integrate women into the Centers and recommendation to appoint Julia Palos, Farmworker Advocate for Silverado Farming Company, to the Subcommittee given Co...
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