The U.S. Census Bureau and the National Apartment Association appear to have reached agreement on the nature and extent of cooperation required between a building owner and census takers regarding who and how many people live in a particular building's apartments.

Under the new agreement, building owners are required to provide "access" to apartments even if the apartment's residents refuse to cooperate. "Access," however, is defined as permitting the census taker (enumerator) to knock on a door or buzz an apartment.

If no one answers or refuses to answer, the building owner may be required to provide the names and number of people living in the apartment to the best of his or her knowledge. He is not, however, obligated to volunteer personal information about the occupants.

He will, however, be required to answer questions regarding the physical plant of the building or apartment, such as the kind of heating unit it uses and the number of apartments in the building in general.

The question of cooperation arose recently because building owners were concerned about their liability if they provided data to census takers, and what type of data must they give and what type of data should not be provided.

At the core of the issue are things such as anxieties of aliens who are living illegally in the United States. Also, apartment owners who house aliens are concerned about legal ramifications if they are discovered.

In other cases, apartment occupants have been reluctant to cooperate with enumerators for fear they may have too many people in a dwelling and they will be reported to the building owner.

Under new guidance from the NAA, building owners or managers should provide Census enumerators with "reasonable access" to the individual apartment units that the enumerator requests to contact.

Adds the guidance, "Reasonable access here often means allowing the enumerator to knock on the door of the apartment. In instances where properties have security doors with individual unit buzzers outside, the enumerator should be permitted to 'buzz' the individual apartment, much as the enumerator would ring the doorbell when visiting a single-family house. Property managers may accompany the enumerator to the apartment door but are neither expected nor permitted to sit-in on the interview."

The NAA guidance notes, however, that enumerators do not have to be permitted access to residents immediately upon arrival. "However, enumerators cannot be denied access indefinitely or without cause. Enumerators may have to return to the property several times in attempts to secure interviews, and these repeat visits should be accommodated."

The NAA says if a census taker is unable to gain the cooperation of the residents, then the enumerator is authorized to ask the apartment manager for the names of all occupants of the specified apartment as of April 1, 2000. The manager is required to provide the names to the extent he is able.

However, says the NAA, "Any assistance beyond provision of access and provision of names is discretionary on the part of the property manager. Specifically, enumerators may ask for additional information about residents of apartments that the enumerator has been unable to contact; however, response by the manager is not required by law."

Published: July 10, 2000

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