US Plans Census Outreach to Displaced Homeowners

With the 2010 census looming, tens of millions of residents in mostly dense urban areas such as Los Angeles and New York are at high risk of being missed due to language problems and a deepening economic crisis, government officials said Monday.

The challenges are creating consternation in some cities, which say time and state budgets for outreach are short.

"While the census is a federal responsibility, there must be earlier and ongoing communication and accountability to local governments and communities," said Stacey Cumberbatch, census coordinator for New York City.

Testifying before a House panel, officials with the Census Bureau and Government Accountability Office cited high risk groups of hard-to-find immigrants, non-English speaking residents and displaced homeowners who make up roughly 14 percent of the U.S. population.

To ensure an accurate count, census officials said they were devoting $250 million from $1 billion in stimulus money for outreach that will include stepped-up canvassing of addresses to identify residences with multiple dwellers and homes now abandoned due to mortgage foreclosures.

The money will also be used to boost the bureau's advertising budget by $80 million, of which $26 million would target the fast-growing Asian and Hispanic populations in television, radio and online spots. Another $10 million would be spent on the undercounted black community.

The money will flow mostly toward dense coastal cities that traditionally have been more racially diverse. But places such as Iowa, with its rapid growth of Hispanics, or Maine, with its sizable Somali population, will also see additional outreach, the bureau said.

"A year from now, the populace will have seen and heard more ads in national and local media than in any prior census," said Thomas Mesenbourg, the acting census director. "Our goal for the 2010 census is to count every one, no matter how difficult or challenging the task may be."

Other efforts planned: