Today is Census Day!
Filling out the 2020 Census determines trillions of dollars of funding, how many Congressional leaders each state has, and Congressional redistricting. After the 2010 Census, Republicans swept into power in state legislatures and governorships and secured a decade of uneven political power.
Filling out the 2020 Census and making sure every single person is counted means we can even the scales and reform our democracy. If we don't, we can expect another decade of Republican minority rule.
So please: fill out your form by mail, call 1-844-330-2020, or respond at mycensus2020.gov.
America's census operation involves hundreds of thousands of workers knocking on doors across the country. That now looks impossible
California is spending $187 million to try to ensure an accurate count of its population. The Texas Legislature decided not to devote any money to the job. Why? The key seems to be which party controls state government.
For the first time ever, the U.S. plans to officially collect census responses in Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese and Tagalog.
SINCE the financial crisis of 2008 the number of people sleeping rough on the streets of London has more than doubled, according to charities' estimates. But besides the highly visible vendors of street-newspapers such as the Big Issue,
the homeless often try to avoid attention and stay hidden. Those
without a fixed address are not covered by any conventional census. So
how exactly do countries measure their homeless populations?
It
partly depends on the definition of homelessness. Britain has two
categories: "rough sleeper", meaning someone who sleeps on the streets;
and "statutory homelessness" for people who are in temporary
accommodation or otherwise at risk of losing the roof over their head.
America, Ireland and Sweden use the same two categories under different
names. But no international standard exists. Italy has no exact
definition. Norway combines the two groups. In New Zealand and France anyone without habitable accommodation is considered homeless.
The best way to count rough sleepers is to go and find them. Los Angeles and New York
recruit volunteers to comb the streets. In New York this happens every
year; in Los Angeles every two years. London is particularly good at
keeping track. Every day charity workers try to find the city’s
homeless. Some ride the night buses. To avoid double counting, the
outreach workers take homeless people's names, waking them up to do so
if necessary. Lack of English, use of drink and drugs and suspicion of
the authorities all make it harder to get this information. Finding
those in precarious or uninhabitable accommodation is more difficult
still, as Britain keeps a record only of those who apply to the
government for help. There is likely to be a considerable number of
so-called "hidden homeless", people living in squats or temporarily
staying with friends or family. For these couch-surfers no reliable
estimates exist. Outside London, the counting of rough sleepers is
patchy.
The European Union attempted to introduce a standardised
method of counting the homeless as part of a census in 2011. Only Poland
followed the guidelines, counting both those sleeping rough and those
in temporary accommodation. Going to find rough sleepers is expensive
and time-consuming so most governments simply don’t bother. Paris has
not kept a record since the mid 2000s. While snapshot counts like that
of Los Angeles provide only a limited amount of information, the length
of time people spend on the streets is critical. Even with surveys like
London’s it is inevitable that some people are being missed. But things
are getting better: part of the reason for the dramatic increase in the number of rough sleepers in London is that more people are going out to find the homeless than ever before.
