Census to put special care into count for coastal region

From the Clarion Ledger:

GULFPORT — The U.S. Census Bureau will hand deliver questionnaires to residents in areas of Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties most devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The Census Bureau isn't pinpointing the communities, streets or blocks where the deliveries will be made.

Questionnaires go out in late March and should be delivered nationwide by April 1, known as Census Day.

Kat Smith, spokesman at the Dallas Regional Census Center, says residents who use post office boxes for their mail will be notified where they can pick up their questionnaires.

Jackson County Supervisor Melton Harris, whose supervisor's district includes parts of Pascagoula and Moss Point, said there also are concerns the region could lose federal funding.

"The effort is a good one, to make sure everyone gets counted," he said. "There should be a full-scale effort to do a real good count this time. We lost a Congressional seat because of the count in 2000."

Census rules require that people be counted in their homes on Census Day. Congress has not changed the law to reflect situations such as people affected by Katrina who live elsewhere while rebuilding.

Harris said there are a number of people who claim residency in one city but are living temporarily in another city because of the shortage of available affordable housing.

Census workers are expected to also hand-deliver about 300,000 questionnaires to homes in Louisiana affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and parts of Galveston Island, Texas, hit by Hurricane Ike in 2008.