Rep. Dan Newhouse says an amendment added to the recently approved 2018 House Agriculture Appropriations Bill will help address the growing problem of farm worker housing shortages.

The amendment will allow Section 514 housing to be utilized by legal H2-A workers, as well as domestic workers, for whom the housing was originally intended.

The 4th District Republican said “What we are seeing happen is the number of domestic workers is going down while the number of H2-A workers is going up, and it has created a situation where we actually have underutilized and unused farm labor housing. So, this is trying to alleviate some of the problems we’re seeing.”

The bill was adopted unanimously earlier this week.

Newhouse added he feels Congress is becoming more concerned in addressing agriculture labor shortages and needs.

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