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As Census Nears, Fresno’s Overlooked Homes Could Mean Millions Less In Aid

Cindy Quezada
/
Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative
Canvassers with the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative found more than 600 unconventional housing units behind homes and off alleyways in select low-income areas in Fresno.

The 2020 U.S. census is just around the corner, and a new project shows a significant number of Fresno’s residents could be overlooked.

The U.S. Census Bureau maintains a Master Address File of every registered postal address in the country. Don’t have a registered address? You probably won’t be counted.

A new pilot project found 600 housing units in low-income areas of Fresno that weren't listed in the Master Address File—representing 6 percent of residences in those areas.

Cindy Quezada with the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative oversaw the project, and she says those housing units were overlooked because they’re so-called unconventional households.

“There were mostly converted garages,” she says, “and then after that were apartment units in the back, like smaller homes, sheds, and just a few RVs and trailers.”

Accurate population counts help determine federal funding levels. Ed Kissam with the WKF Giving Fund, which funded the pilot, says undercounts, especially in low-income communities, could mean millions of dollars less in aid.

“In 2015, federal funding in California amounted to around $1900 per person,” says Kissam.

Local jurisdictions have four months from now to update their master address files.

Kerry Klein is an award-winning reporter whose coverage of public health, air pollution, drinking water access and wildfires in the San Joaquin Valley has been featured on NPR, KQED, Science Friday and Kaiser Health News. Her work has earned numerous regional Edward R. Murrow and Golden Mike Awards and has been recognized by the Association of Health Care Journalists and Society of Environmental Journalists. Her podcast Escape From Mammoth Pool was named a podcast “listeners couldn’t get enough of in 2021” by the radio aggregator NPR One.
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