Half Moon Bay farmworker housing remains stalled years after shooting exposed living conditions

• By: J.K. Dineen

• Published: March 27, 2026

Farmworker Ramon Sonoqui, 70, sits for a portrait with his wife Maria Carrillo, 73, at 555 Kelly Ave. in Half Moon Bay, Calif., the site of a proposed and stalled housing development for senior farmworkers. Juliana Yamada/For the S.F. Chronicle

Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga thought that construction of the senior farmworker complex in downtown Half Moon Bay would be well under way by now. 

After all, it has been two years since the City Council approved it and more than three years since a mass shooting at two mushroom farms that left seven dead and exposed the abysmal living conditions of agricultural workers on the San Mateo coast. 

But, instead, Hernandez-Arriaga, executive director of Ayudando Latinos A Soñar, a Half Moon Bay-based nonprofit developing the project with Mercy Housing, has watched as the City Council has dragged its feet on approving the ground lease and development and disposition agreement needed to make the 40-unit complex at 555 Kelly Ave. a reality.

She fears “the project might not make it.” 

“We are really sad that the project has not been able to move forward,” Hernandez-Arriaga said. “Any area that can be held up is being held up. It should be much easier than this to move it forward. After four years of work we are not even at the building phase. We have seniors who are counting on living there who might not even live to see it built.”

The delays come as Half Moon Bay is one of 15 communities statewide, and the only municipality in the Bay Area, to receive a final warning from the California Department of Housing and Community Development, known as HCD, for being out of compliance with state housing laws. The 15 jurisdictions have 30 days to respond to the notices of violation before HCD takes further action, including referral to the Attorney General. The warning letters were sent March 25.

“I’m disappointed on behalf of the state and the people of California that after years of effort, we still have communities that aren’t meeting the needs of their residents,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “No community gets a pass when it comes to addressing homelessness or creating more housing access.”

Newsom has previously singled out Half Moon Bay for blocking housing, calling the delays of approvals for 555 Kelly Ave. “egregious.”

“Rather than do the right thing and approve badly needed housing for the workers who feed us, a 40-unit complex for low-income seniors is being stalled by local officials,” he said.

In January of 2023, then-66-year-old farmworker Chunli Zhao was taken into custody for allegedly killing seven and wounding an eighth at Concord Farms and California Terra Garden, where he lived and worked. After the shooting Newsom met with farmworkers and highlighted what he called deplorable living conditions, including families residing in converted shipping containers, some without proper running water or insulation.

The incident and Newsom’s reaction put a spotlight on the 555 Kelly project, which was proposed in 2022. The project on a city-owned lot is part of the city’s state-mandated housing element, which requires that Half Moon Bay plan for 480 housing units between 2023 and 2031. Of that number, 339 are required to be affordable to low- and moderate-income households.

Last week, the City Council extended the project’s exclusive negotiating agreement with the development team, but didn’t approve the ground lease or disposition agreement.

At the meeting, dozens of agriculture workers spoke about living in cramped quarters and sharing rooms with other households.

“After a lifetime of hard work I am living in a very difficult reality,” said 67-year-old farmworker Candido Rosales. “I cannot live with my wife and daughter — they rent a room with another family. I have to live somewhere else, also sharing a room with others. We are separated not because we want to be but because we have no other choice. At my age I want something so simple, so human: to live with my family.”

While they didn’t discuss whether they support the ground lease or development agreement at the hearing, council members continued to question details of the project’s finances and operations. 

“You have what you expect to spend on things, but you don’t show where that cash is coming from,” Mayor Debbie Ruddock said. “To pay those bills, we need to see both sides of the operating budget.” 

“There are still a lot of ways you can kill a housing project in this state, unfortunately, and Half Moon Bay seems poised to do that, despite all the intervention from the governor and the attorney general,” said Jordan Grimes, legislative director at Greenbelt Alliance. “The fact of the matter is the post-entitlement process matters and it certainly appears that the council is weaponizing that process and doing everything it can to stop the project.”

Hernandez-Arriaga said she doesn’t know if there are three votes in support of the ground lease and development agreement on the five-member council.

Two of the council members who supported it are no longer in office and were replaced by two who expressed opposition before being elected. Even if the City Council does sign off on the project, opponents have threatened to go to the voters with a ballot measure aimed at stopping it, according to Grimes and others.  

“This project should be a very easy project to pass, but we still don’t know what votes we have,” Grimes said. “It’s for one of the most vulnerable communities in our county — senior farmworkers still working in their 60s and 70s and even 80s.”

There are 978 permanent farmworkers in San Mateo County and 343 seasonal farmworkers according to the 2017 U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Census of Farmworkers. ALAS serves about 200 senior farmworkers.

Said Hernandez-Arriaga, “We have senior farmworkers right here who are right now on the verge of homelessness or homeless, living in their cars or really struggling for housing — and we are questioning if there is a need or where they are coming from?”

Ramie Dare, regional director of real estate for Mercy Housing, said she remains hopeful that the council will approve the agreement and ground lease this spring so that construction can start in 2027. The project has raised about $21 million of the $43 million needed. Most of the remaining money will come from state tax credits.

“We have spent over a year working on those two documents with some members of the council,” she said. “We all invested a lot of good time and want to keep that momentum going.”

Dare said HCD is watching the progress closely. 

“HCD is well aware that we are at the point of seeking approval of these two documents,” she said. “It seems like it would be incredibly important for the city and the community to make this development happen. We are committed to collaborating as much as needed to make it happen.”

State Sen. Josh Becker, who secured $2 million for the project, said “the need for affordable housing for senior farmworkers could not be more urgent.”

“The individuals who have spent their lives sustaining our agricultural economy deserve the opportunity to remain in the communities they helped build,” he said.

Ramon Sonoqui, 70, retired in 2022 after 42 years of farm work. He and his wife live with his children, grandchildren and a son-in-law in a three-bedroom apartment.

“I am happy that we keep advocating for 555 Kelly. But on the other hand, I feel frustrated because all our family are living together,” he said. “I hope these apartments are built soon so we can submit an application and be assigned an apartment for my wife and me.”