Apartment firms will continue to see Census workers in their neighborhoods through July, gathering information from residents who did not complete a 2010 Census questionnaire. Earlier this year, a Census Bureau guidance letter to NAA/NMHC encouraged apartment operators to provide information about residents after Census workers have been unable to contact the resident (three personal visits and three phone calls).
This guidance is still valid and, if followed, will provide the Census Bureau with valuable data that will be used to more effectively allocate federal funding for services and infrastructure.
However, as NAA/NMHC have recently learned, this guidance exceeds the minimum legal requirements. According to Title 13, Section 223 of the U.S. Code, apartment firms are required only to: (1) furnish the names of the occupants of the premises; or (2) provide Census workers free ingress to and egress from the property.
Census enumerators are trained to seek access to the property and knock on the units’ doors to contact the resident directly. They have not been instructed to simply request a list of residents from the property manager. They are also never instructed to challenge property owners with threats of fines for failure to comply, as has been reported in one particular region.
If you have questions about a particular census worker or concerns about their legitimacy, you are encouraged to call your regional Census office. A list of regional Census offices is available at www.2010.census.gov/2010census/contact/index.php.