The City of Detroit will use an extension of the Census deadline to improve its low response rate. Last week, a federal judge had pushed back the Trump Administration response deadline from September 30th to – at least – October 31st.
So far, just over 50-percent of Detroit residents have responded to the census.
Victoria Kovari is leading the Census effort in the city. She explains the incentives for a high response rate.
“Millions of dollars are at stake for programs that people in the city depend on Medicaid, money for hospitals, money for schools, money for food assistance, all that is subsidized by the federal government and all that is based in part on population," said Kovari. "We cannot afford to give our money away.”
Kovari says volunteers will use the extra month to continue their door-to-door efforts in Midtown and Southwest Detroit neighborhoods where response rates have been especially low.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said yesterday (Mon) that the count will end October 5th but that would be in violation of a court order.