How crowded are migrant worker bunkhouses? A survey shines a light on housing conditions that ‘cost lives’

About 66 percent of migrant workers in Canada live with five to 20 other people, most of whom sleep on cots and share facilities with more than a dozen other workers, a new study shows.

The findings are part of the first known survey of the housing conditions of migrant workers, as Ottawa explores the creation of national minimum housing standards for a population exposed to the COVID-19 crisis. A federal consultation on the issue ran in the fall and the results are currently under review.

Compiled by the Migrant Rights Network (MRN) as part of submissions to the process, the survey lays bare the “obscene, inhumane and intolerable” standards that put worker safety at risk in the pandemic and its aftermath.

In Ontario alone, more than 2,400 agricultural workers have fallen ill with COVID-19, with workers, advocates and health experts pointing to the role of substandard housing in the viral spread.
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https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/06/10/how-crowded-are-migrant-worker-bunkhouses-a-survey-shines-a-light-on-housing-conditions-that-cost-lives.html