First homes for HMB farmworkers arrive 2 years after mass shootings exposed poor conditions

ByLuz Pena

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

First homes for HMB farmworkers arrive 2 years after mass shootings

Half Moon Bay has installed three of 47 new residences to address deplorable farmworker housing conditions exposed following the 2023 mass shootings.

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (KGO) -- It's been over two years since the mass shootings in Half Moon Bay where seven farmworkers were killed by a coworker. The tragedy exposed the deplorable housing conditions some farm workers were living in.

On Monday, the first housing units arrived at a new community located at the 880 Stone Pine Road site. It is being called Stone Pine Cove and is close to one of the mushroom farms where workers were killed back in 2023.

Three of 47 new residences arrived at the site, representing hope in the wake of tragedy.

"It's been a very emotional day. It's been great, it was wonderful to see them come on site," said Matthew Estes, senior project manager for Capital Program Management.

For two years, crews have been building the infrastructure for the Stone Pine Cove a construction that came with the urgency of providing housing for farmworkers whose living housing conditions were exposed after the mass shootings.

Thursday marks two years since seven farmworkers were killed during work hours at mushroom farms Half Moon Bay.

"It would not be unheard of for a 47-resident development to have a $50 million budget and at least five years of active working time including planning," Estes said. "This project is going to be completed in just about two years for just about $20 million."

Former Mayor of Half Moon Bay Joaquin Jimenez dreamed of this moment for years.

"I have a picture that I took from that hill on my horse, October 2020, and I said that is the future site for housing for farmworkers," he said, while showing ABC7 the photo on his phone.

Jimenez too it all in Monday, getting emotional and saying it feels really good.

"A lot of hard work, heartbreak, a lot of push back, a lot of people telling me that I was crazy to think about housing in Half Moon Bay," he said. "A lot of people talking against me and this is it. Of course I'm getting emotional, it is possible."

The 2023 mass shooting at a mushroom farm in Half Moon Bay shed light on the deplorable housing conditions farmworkers have been living in for years.

At the county level, Supervisor Ray Mueller is pushing for more new housing.

"In a very short time, we are going to have $2 million in grants set to be on our board agenda that would go ahead and go towards improving farmworkers housing on specific locations throughout the county," Supervisor Mueller said. "We are changing our building codes to make it easier to build farmworker housing. We are working as hard as we can to try to improve conditions and to try to bring these homes to you, but I acknowledge we still got a lot of work to do."

Farmworkers who lived on the farms where the shootings took place will be the priority but Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, executive director of ALAS, believes this will be a win for those who work in this industry.

"It should be a model for other communities that 'si se puede,' yes we can, and what is beautiful too about this community and so special is that some of them are actually going to be able to own these homes and that is a huge game changer," Hernandez-Arriaga said.

Crews will be bringing in three modular homes every day. They expect to have about 15 to 18 homes per week. Each residence takes two weeks to be completed - the goal is to have them ready in the coming months for farmworkers.

VIDEO: 'Hidden Crisis: Tragedy in Half Moon Bay' | Watch full special