Justice at Work (formerly Friends of Farmworkers) provides legal services to low-income workers in Pennsylvania. Many of our clients are immigrant or migrant workers. While our representation on employment issues is well known, Justice at Work also has a long history of  advocacy on housing matters.

We initially began our housing-related work by advocating to improve the farm labor camps for migrant agricultural workers. We continue to work on housing rights for agricultural workers, but today we also represent other low-income people who face unsafe and unhealthy housing conditions. We represent tenants who face housing discrimination, tenants whose security deposits were wrongfully withheld, and tenants whose landlords have refused to make necessary repairs. In addition to litigation, we provide bilingual outreach and education on tenants’ rights.

Early Housing Advocacy

Justice at Work has long recognized that employment-related advocacy for farmworkers cannot be separated from housing-related advocacy since, for many of these workers, their employer is also their landlord. This is because many agricultural workers live in farm labor camps, housing that is provided by employers for a workforce that is often migrant or seasonal.

In 1978, Pennsylvania enacted the Seasonal Farm Labor Act (SFLA). This law includes important protections for migrant and seasonal workers, such as:

• Regulation and inspections of farm labor camps;
• Tenancy rights for workers living in housing that is operated for more than six months of a year; and
• The right for organizations dedicated to farmworkers’ protections to enter farm labor camps.

Pennsylvania is the country’s leading producer of mushrooms. Many mushroom workers live in employer-provided housing, but there is often a dispute as to whether mushroom workers are year-round or seasonal employees. Justice at Work successfully advocated for the SFLA to cover farm labor camps for mushroom workers, regardless of whether such work is performed year-round.

Temporary Foreign Workers

Today, Justice at Work continues to address substandard housing at farm labor camps and other employer-provided housing. In recent years, we have heard from increasing numbers of foreign workers employed in the United States through temporary visa programs, such as the H-2A and H-2B visa programs. These programs permit employers to employ foreign workers on a temporary or seasonal nature. Employers who use the H-2A program are required to provide or secure housing at no cost to H-2A workers. Employers who use the H-2B program are not required to provide housing to workers, but many H-2B employers offer rental housing to their employees.

These temporary workers’ lawful immigration status is dependent on continued employment with their sponsoring employer. We have found that many workers are uncomfortable making complaints about their employer-provided housing because they fear that such complaints would jeopardize their jobs and their lawful immigration status. Justice at Work has therefore developed a robust outreach and education program to inform temporary workers about their rights. We have also litigated housing cases on behalf of temporary foreign workers.

Security Deposits

For our clients who are in a more traditional landlord-tenant relationship, a common legal issue they face is a landlord’s unjustified refusal to return a security deposit. Under Pennsylvania law, a landlord must return the full security deposit or the remainder of the security deposit with a list of damages within 30 days after the termination of the lease or when the tenant vacates the property, whichever is sooner, see 68 P.S. 512(a). If a landlord does not return the security deposit or provide a list of damages within the 30-day deadline, the tenant may sue for double the amount of the security deposit.

Despite the clear statutory mandate, some landlords fail to return the security deposit within this time frame or even refuse to return the security deposit at all, without providing a list of damages to the property or other justification for withholding the deposit. We have also encountered landlords who fabricate charges of property damage in order to keep the client’s security deposit. Many of our clients have limited English proficiency (LEP) and low levels of literacy, which can make it difficult to advocate for themselves in court and even to negotiate informally with landlords. Our bilingual staff provide outreach, education and representation to LEP clients throughout the state. We have successfully obtained the return of many security deposits that were wrongfully withheld.

Health and Safety Issues

Pennsylvania courts have long recognized the implied warranty of habitability in all residential housing units, see Pugh v. Holmes, 405 A.2d 897 (Pa. 1979). This doctrine holds that each housing lease includes an implied warranty that the housing will be “habitable.” While there is no bright-line rule for which defects constitute habitability issues, the implied warranty of habitability is generally implicated in cases of major health or safety problems, such as a lack of heat during the winter or dangerous electrical wiring.

When the landlord fails to provide habitable premises, the tenant has several options: vacate the premises and terminate the lease; remain in the premises and withhold rent, or a portion of the rent; make the necessary repairs and deduct the cost from the rent, provided the tenant previously gave the landlord notice and a reasonable opportunity for the landlord to make such repairs; or if the tenant does not deduct the cost of such repairs from the rent, the tenant may bring a separate claim against the landlord for the cost of the repairs.

For tenants who wish to use these remedies, it is essential to provide notice to the landlord and to maintain careful records. Justice at Work has assisted tenants with problems such as flooding, gas leaks and electrical hazards. We have helped tenants to draft letters to their landlords describing the health or safety issues with their rental property and requesting the necessary repairs. We have also successfully negotiated with landlords to obtain repairs to housing units and reductions in rent due to breaches of the implied warranty of habitability.

Practical Suggestions

While there are no easy solutions to some housing issues, we encourage tenants to keep careful records in order to protect their rights. For example, we recommend that tenants:

• Take time-stamped pictures of the rental property when they move into the property;
• Make copies of all communications with the landlord, including text messages;
• Promptly notify the landlord in writing of health or safety problems;
• Keep receipts for any repairs to the property;
• Request the return of the security deposit in writing, and make sure to include a forwarding address; and
• Take time-stamped pictures of the rental property upon moving out of the property.

Conclusion

Housing problems are complicated for low-income tenants in Pennsylvania, particularly for vulnerable migrant and immigrant populations. We encourage tenants who are experiencing problems with their housing to call a legal services organization for advice.

Miriam H. Straus is a staff attorney at Justice at Work, where she represents low-income clients in employment, housing and immigration matters.