Migrant Worker Housing Enterprise Or Dangerous Slum?

What do you do when the worst and largest substandard housing development in the region sits on sovereign Indian land, and has become commercial.

1 minute read

June 2, 2003, 12:00 PM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"The Bureau of Indian Affairs in March ordered Duro to dismantle the entire operation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week banned the burning of trash at the adjacent dump after discovering high levels of dioxins in the soil. This week, they are investigating reports that a sewage lagoon on the property has sprung a leak near the path children take to their school bus... Almost overnight, however, hundreds of displaced Latino migrant workers leaped at the chance to drag their condemned trailers onto the property, which grew with astonishing speed and creative abandon. Tenants built additional rooms out of plywood and fencing and then sublet them to untold numbers of fellow workers."

Thanks to Laura Kranz

Saturday, May 3, 2003 in The Los Angeles Times

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