Census Count Facing Difficulties Because of Foreclosures

The census count is facing difficulties because of foreclosures. Many families have been evicted from their homes and camping with friends, relatives, cars or shelters. Robert Groves the director of Census Bureau has expressed his concern.

He said that some questionnaires would be mailed in 2010 and these will arrive at many empty houses. This will compel the census workers to conduct door to door surveys to find out who lives where; all this mean extra funds.

Speaking to reporters Groves said, “One absolutely unambiguous impact of the foreclosures is there’s going to be more people knocking on doors. It’s going to be more expensive to do that.”

Waves of unemployment have left over 13% of those with a mortgage to lag behind in their monthly payments or they are already in foreclosure according to report released by Mortgage Bankers Association. The worst affected states are Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada. Some experts feel that another wave of foreclosure would hit the country in 2010. The moratorium that many lenders had placed on foreclosures would come to an end by then causing this upsurge.

Groves explained that the census personnel would have to concentrate on locating those evictees who have moved in with relatives to tide over the bad time. Many continue to nurse the hope that this crisis is only temporary, But whatever their status it is vital that they be included in the census count in the following spring.

Groves also reiterated that his officials are giving due attention to the counting of the those who have newly become homeless like the families who previously belonged to the middle class category but have now been pulled down by the recession.

The Census Bureau contends that by posting replacement forms and the using of a shorter questionnaire together with dispatching of bilingual forms in the Spanish speaking localities these problems would be addressed. New hands have been hired for areas where counting is difficult. However Groves has his doubts as to whether these steps will be sufficient to achieve the goal of getting back 67% response from the questionnaires that are being mailed. In 2000 this had been rate of answer. He said “I think it is a harder job for us – this census.”

The census of 2010 would also be more expensive. Since the last decade the costs have doubled – if not more than that. It would now entail approximately $14.7 billion.

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