(a) The City Council makes the following findings: The United States Constitution directs a decennial census count of all persons living in the United States.
(b) Complete and accurate census data is of critical importance to all residents of Bloomington for equal political representation, fair distribution of federal and state funding, and sound planning and investment in infrastructure, real estate, business development and public policy and programming.
(c) During the decennial census, United States Census Bureau employees conduct Non-Response Follow-up Operations (NRFU) visiting households that have not submitted a census form.
(d) Renters and others who live in multiple family residential housing structures have historically been at higher risk of being undercounted in the decennial census, with the number of renter households in an area being the most influential variable affecting an area’s census self-response rate.
(e) The risk of an undercount is compounded in areas with high concentrations of communities that have been consistently undercounted in the past and who are more likely to be renters, including low-income households, communities of color, Native American or American Indian communities, immigrants and refugees, and young people.
(f) It is critical that Census Bureau employees have access to residential housing structures during the decennial census, so they can reach households that have not yet participated.
(g) 13 U.S.C. § 223 (2010) authorizes Census Bureau employees to access “any hotel, apartment house, boarding or lodging house, tenement, or other building.”
(Ord. 2020-10, passed 4-6-2020)