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A CENSUS BUREAU ENUMERATOR INTERVIEWS A MOTHER WITH TWO CHILDREN IN 1950.
PHOTO COURTESY U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE |
Stand Up and Be Counted
Census Undercounting Endangers Federal Funding to City of Miami Beach
By Lee Molloy
The first census of the U.S. population was taken in 1790, at which time there were just six questions asked, most of which sound incredible in today’s society. The survey included accounting for the number of white males, the number of white females, the number of free persons and the number of slaves in a household. The total population recorded across the 13 original states was 3.9 million — a number which, according to Rafael De La Portilla, a senior partnership specialist at the U.S. Census Bureau, did not please President George Washington, who anticipated a much higher count.
More than 200 years later, that reaction is still being echoed — in Miami Beach.
City officials claim that, at roughly 88,000 residents, the census conducted in 2000 undercounted the number of people who call Miami Beach home.
“The census [bureau] informed us that we are the most underreported community in the county,” Nannette Rodriguez, spokesperson for the City of Miami Beach, told The Lead. Although the average of returned mail-in surveys across Miami-Dade County was 65 percent, more than half of the residents of Miami Beach failed to put theirs in the mail.
The situation was exasperated by census takers who had problems getting past security in condo buildings to perform personal interviews with those who had not returned their questionnaire. Additionally, the number of ‘snowbirds’ who were not living in their condos on April 1 (the day when the census is officially counted) also potentially skewed the number downward.
Furthermore, according to De La Portilla, residents who are historically undercounted include non-English speakers and foreign-born immigrants — the most recent census data estimates foreign-born residents account for roughly half of the residents of Miami Beach. Those that speak a language other than English in their home account for nearly two-thirds.
“Those segments of the population tend not to send their questionnaires back,” De La Portilla told The Lead. He added that “post 9/11 and the Patriot Act, there is a mistrust of government,” he said.
Why Does the Census Count Matter?
A report released earlier this month by the Brookings Institution, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit public policy organization, revealed that there is a direct correlation between the amount of funding provided to states for federal programs and the population numbers gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau.
In 2010, more than $400 billion dollars in assistance is slated to be made available nationwide by the federal government based on census data. Currently, Florida ranks 48th in assistance, recieving a little over $900 per resident, while New York receives more than $2,300 per head.
The reason for the difference in distribution, however, is not clear.
“There are many factors suspected, including Medicaid,” De La Portilla said. Funding for Medicaid accounts for $460 per resident in Florida, but more than $1,500 per resident in New York. Although he did suggest that the reason for the disparity may be found in state government. “We really don’t have an answer for that as a data collection agency,” De La Portilla told The Lead.
Miguel Del Campillo, the Executive Director of the Housing Authority of the City of Miami Beach (HACMB), an organization that provides those in need with affordable housing, explained that his funding also starts at the federal level. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is one of the 215 federal assistance programs that make use of census-guided data to allocate funds. Therefore, an accurate census count is “tremendously important,” to HACMB’s finances, Del Campillo says.
“When you have an undercount you have a situation where some of the funding from the federal government is not made available,” he told The Lead. “You are failing to maximize your funding. So, it is fundamental that we get a full count.”
Del Campillo added that the formula to allocate funding for affordable housing requires showing an accurate count of low income residents. However, those with little financial resources are less likely to respond to the census, either because they are elderly or “may be uncomfortable speaking with authority.”
Getting an Accurate Count
In an effort to get people to mail back their 2010 census forms, the Census Bureau has made an unprecedented nationwide marketing effort to emphasize the importance of the process, and has reached out to municipal governments and others to work on action plans to produce accurate numbers.
“We got a package from the Census Bureau, and ideas of how to operate as a city, and we put together a group called the Complete Count Committee,” which is made up of local community activists and volunteers, said Caroline DeFreze, community resource coordinator for the City of Miami Beach. “We have different branches of that committee — media, faith-based, and businesses who are supposed to do outreach in their communities” and urge residents to mail back the questionnaires, DeFreze told The Lead.
Del La Portilla is confident that the publicity drive will be a success.
“We think we’re up for a pleasant surprise regarding those mail-back response rates,” he said.
Help in English and Spanish is available for elderly persons and others who require assistance in completing their 2010 census questionnaire. Visit the Housing Authority of the City of Miami Beach, 200 Alton Road; March 19 through April 19, Monday to Friday, from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Call 305-532-6401 for more information.
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