#114 - Introduction to Migrant Housing Inspections in North Carolina

If you provide housing to one or more migrants employed in agriculture on a seasonal basis, you are covered by the Migrant Housing Act of North Carolina (see Appendix A). If you own housing used by migrants (whether your employees or not), or if you make arrangements to use someone else’s property to house your migrant employees, it is your responsibility to make sure that the housing meets these standards and that the N.C. Department of Labor - Agriculture Safety and Health Bureau is notified prior to the migrants moving in.

The law excludes from coverage commercial lodging, such as motels open to the general public, and owner-occupied homes. The law covers any other housing in which migrants live—even if that housing is occupied year-round by other farmworkers. The law extends to migrants working in crab processing facilities and migrants cultivating and harvesting Christmas trees.