Migrant Farmworker Labor Housing in Texas.

The first thing migrant farmworkers require when they arrive at a new place is shelter. Traditionally, on-the-job housing has been provided by the grower or by a growers association or by a company which owns the crops; and traditionally the quality of such housing has varied greatly. Although Texas is the biggest exporter and user state of migrant labor in the country, Texas had done absolutely nothing to ensure that the housing provided these workers was minimally decent, until 6 years ago. This paper presents a history of the efforts which have been made to improve the quality of migrant farm labor housing within the State of Texas. This history necessarily includes developments on the national level. Topics discussed are: (1) the nature of migrant housing; (2) the Federal response during the Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower administrations (1932-1960), the Kennedy and Johnson administrations (1961-1968), the first Nixon administration (1969-1972), and the second Nixon administration and the Ford administration (1973-1976); (3) the State of Texas response; and (4) legislation and programs affecting migrant labor housing in Texas today--the Department of Labor's Interstate Recruiting Service Code, the Occupational Safety and Health Act Code, the Farm Labor Contractor Registration Act, the FmHA Farm Labor Housing Program, the Texas Migrant Labor Camp Law, the Rural Housing Alliance, the Housing Assistance Council, and the Texas Housing Development Corporation. (NQ)