Decennial Census: Methods for Collecting and Reporting Data on the Homeless and Others without Conventional Housing Need Refinement

摘要

For the 2000 Census, the Bureau of the Census employed several initiatives to help ensure a complete and accurate count of people without conventional housing. Enumerating this segment of the population, which contains, among others, people referred to as 'homeless,' has been an ongoing problem for the Bureau. In one initiative, known as Service-Based Enumeration, census enumerators attempted to count these individuals at emergency and transitional shelters, soup kitchens, regularly scheduled mobile food vans, as well as at what the Bureau calls 'targeted nonsheltered outdoor locations' (TNSOL) for people living on the street at targeted locations who do not use services. To help locate and count people, the Bureau partnered with organizations providing services to the homeless and local governments, some of which put substantial resources into their efforts. In return, some of these organizations expected the Bureau to provide data that would help them plan and deliver health, employment, and other services directed toward this population. However, in its review of the emergency and transitional shelter data, the Bureau identified serious concerns with the quality of the data and concluded that the data should not be released without explanation of their extensive limitations and caveats.