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Permanent Housing for Seasonal Workers? A Generalized Peak Load Investment Model for Farm Worker Housing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2015

Elvis Qenani-Petrela ,
Ron Mittelhammer  and
Philip Wandschneider
Elvis Qenani-Petrela
Affiliation:
Agribusiness Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
Ron Mittelhammer
Affiliation:
School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
Philip Wandschneider
Affiliation:
School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
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Abstract

Many seasonal workers are housed in transitory accommodations, including tents and vehicles. In this study, we analyze the supply side of this problem by assuming that a public agent must house the workers through direct public investment. A peak load model is adapted to develop investment rules for the least-cost provision of seasonal worker housing, adding an interacting multi-season component to existing models. Based on this model and the data from three prototype projects, the majority of the least-cost investment would be in permanent, but seasonally occupied, housing.

Keywords

farmworker housinginvestment rulespeak load modelpublic housingseasonal laborR31H75J43G31
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , April 2007 , pp. 151 - 169
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2008

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