Citing “threat to the city,” Mayor announces creation of NYC Census Office
This story was originally published October 26, 2017.
With concerns rising over the federal government’s preparedness for the 2020 census, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Thursday the creation of a citywide census office responsible for coordinating the constitutionally-mandated count in New York City. Calling the possibility of an undercount in the upcoming census “a threat to the city,” the Mayor cited the potential for funding cuts and even the loss of congressional seats if New York’s population is not accurately counted.
“We’re talking about the potential of losing one or two house seats, depending on the outcome of that census,” de Blasio said.
The Mayor emphasized that immigrant communities, particularly those with a high number of undocumented individuals, are particularly at risk of being undercounted without a broad outreach effort.
“It’s gotten hard to convince someone to come get the healthcare they need, or get their kids the education they need, or come forward to the police if they’ve been the victim of a crime,” de Blasio said. “Well, how on earth do we expect people in immigrant communities to feel comfortable when the census taker comes to town?”
De Blasio made the announcement flanked by a coalition of civil rights leaders and mayors from around the country, who he had met with that morning at Gracie Mansion in a conference sponsored by the National Urban League. President Donald Trump’s failure to appoint a National Census Director, as well as looming budget cuts, raised concerns among the group that there would not be enough time, money, or focus devoted to the census to ensure an accurate accounting.
“We are greatly concerned that the census is underfunded and without leadership,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, and the former Chairman of the Census Advisroy Committee during the 2010 census. “It’s a major concern.”
De Blasio also expressed suspicions that the Trump administration’s lack of attention to the census could be politically motivated, as reduced outreach would disproportionately affect immigrant and Hispanic communities. Drawing comparisons to the Trump administration’s decision to reduce outreach for Affordable Care Act enrollment, the Mayor argued that insufficient census outreach is akin to disenfranchising voters.
“This is voter suppression, if you think about it,” he said. “The suppression just happens before people begin to vote.”
The new citywide census office will begin work within a year, according to de Blasio. The mayor declined to say how the new census office would be funded or who is being considered to lead the effort.
