Recession, housing crisis pose major challenges for accurate census count

The nation’s census chief said Tuesday that the housing crisis, economic recession and waves of new immigrants pose enormous challenges that could make an accurate 2010 count more difficult and expensive in California and elsewhere than a decade ago.

Robert Groves, U.S. Census Bureau director, said widespread housing foreclosures have displaced many people, making them harder and more expensive to count. Increased immigration has heightened the challenge of reaching people in their own language -- a task more complex in Los Angeles than nearly anywhere else in the nation.

At the same time, the recession has prompted major reductions in state and local funding for census outreach, Groves said at a breakfast meeting in Los Angeles.

California has cut its census funding to $2 million from $24.7 million a decade earlier, and a Pew Charitable Trusts study released this week found that L.A. funding has also plunged.

But the census director outlined several new initiatives to combat the problems as officials prepare to launch the count next April. They include a fivefold increase in local outreach staff, financed by an overall federal funding hike to $14.7 billion, more than double the $6.2 billion spent on the last census.

In addition, private foundations such as the California Community Foundation and the California Endowment have kicked in census funds.

Census officials also plan an extensive effort to reach out to immigrants and minorities, who traditionally have been undercounted. The 2010 census will debut a Spanish-English bilingual ballot for more than 13 million households, along with census forms in six languages and advertising in 59 languages.

The Census design itself should also promote better response, Groves said. The bureau has jettisoned the long form and will send out only the short questionnaire, which yields response rates 8 to 10% higher, he said. And a replacement form will be mailed to households that do not respond the first time to give them a second chance to be counted.

“Will it work? We don’t know,” Groves said. “The frightening thing about the census is you only ... have one shot every 10 years.

But, he added, “Our aspirations are this is the best census in U.S. history.”

-- Teresa Watanabe

Comments

[Tara]

October, 2010: mark your calendars. On this date California 'debuted' its bilingual census form. This is a milestone--we are now officially biverse. who knows what happened to policies that promote diversity.

[Brittanicus]

Regarding the 2010 Census? Small states will miss out big time on federal dollars, while mass illegal immigration states like California will gain more seats in Congress and too much power and influence? Of course ICE could check the immigration status of those who are counted, even though it's supposedly against US law? Or is counting 20 million plus (?) non-legal residence against the US Constitution?

Today, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) will be offering an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill that would require the U.S. Census Bureau to add questions regarding immigration & citizenship status to the 2010 decennial census. If these questions are not asked it is certain that illegal aliens will be counted in the census and states will lose/gain Congressional seats (and electoral college votes) due to this counting of illegal aliens.DEMAND FROM YOUR SENATORS THAT SEN. VITTERS’ AMENDMENT BE INCLUDED.

Another idea is in the commencing voting season next year? Instead of just taking the incumbents and clean faced lawmakers by their word? That when they swear an oath that they will protect and defend the American people, we should hold them to it? We should ensure their honesty by having them sign an agreement executed under perjury, that he/she will defend us from foreign and domestic enemies? Let's face it if you study the immigration enforcement grading at NUMBERSUSA, a highly regarded pro-sovereignty website, you will observe Sen. Harry Reid has a C- ? grading. He and Nancy Pelosi, Janet Napolitano, Sen.Chuck Schumer (F- ) Diane Feinstein ( F ) and countless others have used their political influence to under fund, create obstacles and otherwise use Senate-House laws to collapse any worthwhile enforcement laws such as police apprehension 287 G and the No-Match letter? Ask yourself? What do these politicians have to gain from keeping our border fence wide open? Even the church is approving the BLANKET AMNESTY, when the 1986 AMNESTY was just a facade of fraud. Perhaps the churches would like to open their coffers, homes and bring in illegal alien families to squat there, instead of dumping it in the lap of the taxpayers yet again? My Baptist church has very few passionate people, when it means feeding their own families?

Just type into Google each name followed by illegal immigration as many are brought and sold once they get to Washington, as out from the sleazy woodwork comes the lobbyists with bags of money. For an example type in Pelosi--illegal immigration--corruption. One headline reads--NANCY PELOSI CULTURE OF CORRUPTION! Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein Appropriated Federal Funds for San Francisco DA's Program that Expunged & Kept Illegal’s Criminal Records from the Feds: The diseased lists of political sleaze goes on and on. The rumors that Pelosi has vineyards in Central California have an abundant illegal alien labor? If you really want to know the--TRUTH--about the next path to citizenship for the 20 to 30 million foreign nationals, just surf the net.

GOOGLE–JUDICIAL WATCH and learn what your financial future has in store for you. Ordinary people have been crippled by financing illegal immigration? That’s right! They bleed you for more and more taxes to supplement the poorly paid income of illegal workers? Remember it’s not the US government who pays for free health care, education for the millions of illegal kids brought over here. Removing the chance of a decent education for our kids? It’s the US taxpayer who can hardly afford to balance their own budgetary needs. The only people who benefit from cut rate labor are the dishonest business owners. That’s why we need mandatory E-Verify, to disrupt their hiring of cheap labor. Even our kids cannot get summer jobs any more, because fast food employers hire illegal workers?

If American workers don’t get organized and run these political renegades out of town, we will have a BLANKET AMNESTY to deal with. We can stop this travesty by holding their feet to fire at 202-224-3121 and yelling they will not be reelected.