In this report:
- Acknowledgements
- Executive Summary
- Introduction
- Part I - Demographic Trends in Katrina-Affected Areas and Their Impact on the 2010 Census
- Part II - Census Procedures and Operational Challenges to Getting an Accurate Count in the Aftermath of a Catastrophe
- Part III - Operational and Policy Recommendations for a More Accurate 2010 Census in the Gulf Coast
- Appendix A
Residence Rules and Displaced Residents
Because some people live in more than one residence (such as children in joint custody situations), own more than one home, or spend part of the year away from "home" (such as college students), the Census Bureau has established rules that determine where people should be counted in the decennial census. Census residence rules provide that people are counted at their "usual residence," which the Census Bureau defines as "the place where the person lives and sleeps most of the time. This place is not necessarily the same as the person's voting residence or legal residence."
People living in temporary housing units or staying temporarily with family or friends might not realize that the census should include them where they are living on Census Day, April 1, 2010. Similarly, householders providing shelter to displaced friends or family members may not realize that people staying with them should be counted on the form that they receive. Without a focused public education campaign addressing the unique circumstances fostered by the hurricanes, householders may not realize that their guests should be counted as residents, and might leave them off the form.
Further complicating matters, the census form only has space for six people to provide their complete information (e.g., responses to the 10 questions on the census form). A household roster allows the person filling out the form to list up to 12 people living there; the Census Bureau will follow up with these "large" households by telephone during Coverage Follow Up, to collect the required information.
As noted earlier, there is also a broader procedural and political conversation taking place about whether still-displaced residents who have been prevented from returning to their homes by a variety of obstacles should be permitted to report their former addresses as their usual residence even if they are not living there as of April 1. Those questions must be resolved quickly and the answers communicated clearly. Residents cannot just "write in" a different address from the one at which they receive a census questionnaire. Census questionnaires mailed or delivered to most U.S. homes in March 2010 include a bar code tied to that specific address, removing the need for respondents to fill in their address on the form. Only so-called "Be Counted" forms, which will be available at roughly 40,000 sites during the first stage of the census for people who did not receive a form at their address or who believe they were not included on a form completed by someone else in the home, provide space for an address. Census workers must verify the existence of the housing unit during later operations, and confirm that respondents were not already listed on a completed census form, before adding people on Be Counted forms to the census.
Next Section: Difficulties in Enumerating Immigrant and Migrant Populations
