The five Chinese farmworkers sitting together in Half Moon Bay Library on a foggy afternoon last month were there to receive information about their permanent homes.

It had been almost a year since they were displaced by the mass shooting at two produce farms in the small city on California’s coast. They lost more than their homes. They also lost their sense of community and safety...

Then, on Jan. 23, seven people were killed across two mushroom farms about three miles apart in Half Moon Bay. Five of the victims were Chinese, and two were Latino. Almost 30 people who lived on the farms in sheds, shipping containers and converted trailers were left unhoused.

The mass shooting brought renewed attention to the living and working conditions of California’s farmworkers. Farmworkers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants and fear deportation, are less likely to report safety violations and wage theft. In the state where the national movement to organize farmworkers began more than five decades ago, agricultural laborers still face employer retaliation for unionizing.

Many who toil in fields for long hours and low wages struggle to afford housing and find themselves sleeping in unsafe structures on farms. But experts, community advocates and survivors interviewed by KQED for this story said the gun violence in Half Moon Bay exposed the emergent vulnerability of Chinese farmworkers, who are almost invisible because they represent a sliver of migrant farmworkers...

Chunli Zhao opened fire at California Terra Garden, where he lived and worked as a forklift driver, killing four people and wounding Pedro Romero Pérez.

Zhao then drove to Concord Farms, a farm he was reportedly fired from in 2015, and fatally shot three people. Zhao, 67, was arrested. He has pleaded not guilty.

In an interview three days after the shooting, Zhao told NBC Bay Area that he had endured years of bullying and long hours working at the two farms. According to Steve Wagstaffe, the San Mateo County district attorney, Zhao told investigators that he was angry at the time of the shootings because California Terra Garden demanded $100 to repair a damaged forklift...

The workers were forced to move off the farms as the police and FBI conducted investigations. They’ve moved between hotels and short-term rentals. The rent will be paid by San Mateo County through March or April, according to a Half Moon Bay city official. The city will need to raise money for temporary housing, officials told KQED...