Linda Rothfield, a census taker, kept her government-issued iPhone directing it back to San Francisco apartments she knew were vacant. Sometimes, the pandemic caused her to be turned away from occupied apartments she found.A few landlords said it was COVID. Rothfield stated that you can't enter.Apartment renters were particularly difficult to count in a national headcount that was thrown off track by political turmoil, natural disasters and a deadly virus. Experts and former census takers worry that not all of them were included in the final count.The potential for high prices when you look at the 44 million people living in these rental homes. The census determines how much federal money is spent annually. Therefore, lower numbers could mean less government funding for schools, roads, and medical services in these communities.Nearly 36% of American homes are occupied with renters. This is up from 33% in the last census a decade back.Renters, even in the best of circumstances are the most difficult people to count. They are less likely to be permanent and live below poverty level. According to The Leadership Conference Education Fund (a civil rights group), they are also more likely to be people of color who are also traditionally undercounted in censuses.The formation of political districts with Hispanic or Black-majority residents could be hindered by insufficient data about the ethnic background or race of renters.According to Jeri Green (a former senior adviser at Census Bureau who was a consultant for the National Urban League during 2020 census), renters have lower self-response than homeowners so the government depends more on them knocking on their doors.Green stated that this population was at high risk of being overlooked before COVID. It is a challenge for Census Bureau to accurately count renters.Continue the storyThe 2010 census showed that renters were only 1.1% undercounted, with some tenants seeing a higher rate. According to the Leadership Conference Education Fund, black male renters aged between 30 and 49 were underestimated by 12.2% and Hispanic male renters aged between 18 and 29 by 8.6%.The Census Bureau stated in a statement that delays caused by the pandemic forced them to remove a step from the door-knocking phase. This is where building managers and landlords are consulted to determine which apartments are vacant or occupied. It's so that census takers don't waste time knocking on empty units.However, we were able to notify the landlords and managers that enumerators were coming to their property, asking them for their cooperation before the operation began. The statement added that bureau officials were confident in census takers' work.The Census Bureau used other methods to count renters who did not respond to the questionnaires or were unable to be interviewed by census takers. These methods included the use of administrative records from the Social Security Administration or the Internal Revenue Service, as well as asking neighbors and postal workers for their information.The Governmental Accountability Office conducted a survey of Census Supervisors to determine how they felt about 2020 census operations. It found that 60% of them had difficulty completing caseloads as their respondents couldn't get into apartments.In a March report, the GAO stated that communication with building managers was difficult because of the pandemic. We were told by supervisors that the pandemic caused many multi-unit buildings to be closed off from enumerators.Nathan Bean, a Chicago census supervisor, stated that even though he could reach property managers via phone last summer, they would often tell him, "We aren't going to answer you calls." We won't answer your questions.The exact accuracy of the count, and how many renters were actually undercounted, will not be known until December or early next year.Already, the Census Bureau has published 2020 census figures to determine how many seats each state will get. Those numbers show how just a handful of people can make a difference. New York would have retained a congressional seat if 89 more people were counted. The Gopher State would lose a seat if 26 people were missing in Minnesota.The August deadline for the release of numbers to redraw congressional and legislative districts is not yet.Jan Rice worked in Denver as a census taker. She was frustrated at being prohibited from calling apartment managers on her behalf so she could obtain information about occupied units and delete vacant units from the database. This would have saved other census takers time. Her supervisor said to her that she had to knock on doors when she tried it.Rice stated that it reduced our productivity. You can't give them a voice if you don't count them correctly.___Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP
