By Larry Jones
July 27, 2009

Testifying on July 9 before the House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and, National Archives, East Orange (NJ) Mayor Robert L. Bowser and Toledo Mayor Carleton Finkbeiner told members of the panel that an undercount of people residing in their cities would adversely impact the allocation of federal dollars for a variety of programs. Conversely, Bowser said a complete and accurate count is the best way of ensuring that each community “gets its fair share of federal dollars…money for schools, hospitals, roads and social services.”

To explain the impact of a census undercount, Bowser told members of the panel that Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) relies on an accurate count of people residing in entitlement communities. If the population of East Orange is not correctly counted, he said, the CDBG formula cannot be used to accurately allocate funds to his city.

Bowser also pointed out that under the HOME program, weight is given to occupied rental units with overcrowding and other factors derived from census data. He said, “Undercounting of rental units by the U.S. Census can, and we believe has, impact the city of East Orange's HOME allocation that directly impairs our ability to build and rehabilitate more affordable housing units.”

Finkbeiner told members of the hearing panel that his city recently identified over 1,400 addresses that were omitted from the Census Bureau's master address list. As a result, he challenged the Census Bureau's 2007 population estimate for Toledo and in 2009, the Census Bureau acknowledged that the city's population was 21, 822 more people than their original 2007 estimate.

In spite of the increased population count, Finkbeiner said he was surprised in June 2009 when he received a letter from HUD “stating that as a result of Toledo's successful challenge, the city will actually be receiving $293,585 less in Community Development Block Grant funding in Fiscal Year 2009.” He further explained that after successfully challenging the Census Bureau's estimate, he expected to receive a larger allocation of CDBG funds. “If there are more people in the city of Toledo as confirmed by the federal government, but increasing poverty and unemployment topping at 12 percent, why would the city of Toledo's CDBG allocation be reduced? I can only conclude that the allocation formula needs to be addressed to rectify the situation facing the city of Toledo,” he said.