Two years after deadly Half Moon Bay shooting, survivors are in line for a permanent home. But other farmworkers are still in limbo

Although they have lived there for nearly a year, Jun Chen and Yan Wang 
still don’t use the kitchen in their temporary apartment at the top of the 
hill in Moss Beach. In the place for utensils on the drying rack beside 
their sink, the couple keeps their toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste.

Chen and Wang still prepare most meals in the communal kitchen at Concord 
Farms in Half Moon Bay where they work. For years, they shared the space 
with several other workers who lived alongside them there in sparsely 
furnished rooms overlooking rows of mushroom cultivation trays.

That was before Jan. 23, 2023, the day their former co-worker, Chunli 
Zhao, went on a rampage at two farms in Half Moon Bay, fatally shooting 
seven immigrant farmworkers, including three of Chen and Wang’s 
colleagues. The shooting brought to light the harsh living conditions at 
the two mushroom farms, California Terra Garden and Concord Farms — mold-
infested rooms that would flood regularly, and dilapidated shipping 
containers that often lacked heat and running water. In the immediate 
aftermath, the families were moved into temporary housing paid for by the 
county and city, and the housing at the farms was condemned and destroyed.

Two years later, some permanent farmworker housing is coming into view. In 
May, most of the families directly affected by the shooting will move into 
a new manufactured housing development at 880 Stone Pine Cove, with 47 
trailers dedicated to housing farmworkers. A modest monthly rental payment 
will build equity for the families, allowing them to own the trailer 
outright after 20 years.

For survivors like Chen and Wang, it’s a milestone in their journey since 
the shooting, which has sent them shuffling between hotels and temporary 
housing.

“I have gained and I have lost,” Chen said in Mandarin through an 
interpreter.

But as the victims finally get a dignified place to live, it’s unclear 
whether San Mateo County has done enough to keep other farmworkers from 
experiencing similarly devastating conditions, and advocates say 
farmworkers throughout the state still live in subpar housing.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the county established a task 
force to inspect housing at all farms on county-owned land. Two-thirds of 
the farms met minimum health and safety standards, and the county directed 
the other third to make improvements. At three farms, housing for farmers 
was red-tagged and families were required to move out.

At a news conference on Friday, San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller 
announced a $2 million forgivable loan program that farmers and tenants 
can apply for to make improvements and repairs to their homes. He also 
said the county would consider streamlining its zoning process to make it 
easier to build farmworker housing. That’s on top of two bills signed into 
law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year intended to help turn temporary migrant 
housing into permanent housing to allow migrant workers with families a 
stable place to live all year long.

Some survivors, though, worry that once they move into the new housing, 
they’ll be forgotten. Already, Juan Flores-Lopez, the manager of 
California Terra Garden, has seen how the community’s support has faded 
along with the collective memory of the massacre.

“In the beginning, people from the county were coming every day, asking us 
how we were doing,” Flores-Lopez said. “But as time passes, the support is 
diminishing. It’s totally different now.”

Flores-Lopez has watched this year as Half Moon Bay’s planning commission 
stalled on approving a 40-unit apartment complex for senior farmworkers 
downtown. Residents complained the four-story building at 555 Kelly Ave. 
would change the city’s character and might create parking problems. 
Frustrated with the lack of movement on the project, Newsom even stepped 
up pressure on the city, threatening legal action.

After getting the commission’s reluctant sign-off in May and surviving 
appeals, the project seemed to be in the clear. But approvals took so long 
that the developer, Mercy Housing, missed deadlines to apply for funding 
it needs to start construction. Contracts that the city, which owns the 
land, had executed with Mercy also lapsed, and they must be renewed for 
Mercy to move forward. But with a new council in place — which includes 
the newly elected Paul Nagengast, one of the three appellants of the 
project — it’s not clear the project will move forward.

“It’s unconscionable to think that a person will come here and work their 
entire lives as a member of our economy, paying taxes, putting food on our 
tables, and then in their old age, are left with no safety net,” Mueller 
said.

It’s still a long way to retirement for Flores-Lopez, Chen and Wang. 
They’ve continued to show up at work since the shooting, and are 
constantly reminded of the colleagues they lost.

On Thursday, the second anniversary of the shooting, Chen and Wang shared 
memories of Aixang Zhang, 74, and Zhishen Liu, 73, some of the only 
friends they had made in isolation at the farm. At the end of the workday, 
the two couples would cook with each other and share dishes — Chen and 
Wang stir-frying chicken and vegetables in a traditional Southern Chinese 
style, and Zhang and Liu making dumplings, a Northern Chinese staple. The 
older couple would show Chen and Wang photos of their grandchildren, who 
they planned to visit in their retirement, which they would have taken 
this year.

These days, though, when Chen and Wang sit down for dinner at the farm, 
they eat alone.

“Before, we were always talking and chatting and cooking,” Chen said.

He’s looking forward to being in a community again. Even if he and the 
other workers don’t share a language, he knows they all came to the U.S. 
for the same reason — to provide better lives for their children, as he 
and Wang did when they moved from Wuhan six years ago.

“After I came to the U.S., I felt like I was starting life over,” Wang 
said. “After the shooting, it was like starting over again.”

Now, in five months, she and Chen will have their own space, and be on a 
path toward home ownership. Her daughter, 28, also just recently moved 
from China and started school at the College of San Mateo. Another chance 
at a new life. Another start. Again.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/01/26/half-moon-bay-shooting-farmworker-
housing/