Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYC Census 2020 Director Julie Menin went door-knocking to encourage New Yorkers to complete the census in South Richmond Hill in July (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)
Sept. 25, 2020 By Allie Griffin
The public has another month to respond to the 2020 Census, thanks to a federal court ruling Thursday.
Judge Lucy Koh issued a preliminary injunction in a California court yesterday that prevents President Donald Trump from ending the count on Sept. 30, a month before the scheduled end date of Oct. 31.
Koh said the shortened schedule would produce inaccurate results that would last a decade.
The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups and local governments against the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Commerce for ending the census early.
The decision will give more time for residents to complete the survey which decides how much federal funding for public education, affordable housing and infrastructure that states and localities receive.
It also determines how many representatives each state will have in Congress for the next 10 years.
The decision matters to New York City and Queens known for low Census response rates. It gives local organizations and government groups more time to get residents to fill out the forms.
Queens has a self-response rate of 61.5 percent, which is slight above New York City’s rate of 60.6 percent, but below the statewide response rate of 63.3 percent.
Certain areas of Queens have particularly low Census self-response rates, according to a 2020 Census map.
South Richmond Hill has areas, defined by Census tracts, where less than half the residents have filled out the Census, according to the map.
Corona also has a self-response rate of 50 percent or less as well as sections of the Rockaways.
Low-income, minority and immigrant areas often have lower Census response rates and are undercounted and underrepresented as a result.
Meanwhile, areas of Northeast Queens are showing some of the highest self-response rates in the borough with 75 percent or more of residents responding.
For more information on the census, click here
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