City reports low-to-moderate-income survey short of threshold; door-to-door push under way
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Summary
City staff reported that Moscow’s low-to-moderate-income survey has a 32% response rate so far and stands at about 44% qualifying LMI; city must reach a 75% response rate (278 responses) by a Dec. 5 deadline to validate a citywide CDBG qualification.
Moscow — City staff reported Oct. 20 that a randomized household survey intended to determine whether Moscow meets the low-to-moderate-income (LMI) threshold for Idaho Community Development Block Grant eligibility has returned 118 responses so far, short of the 278 responses (75% of mailed surveys) required by the Idaho Department of Commerce.
Alisa Anderson, the city statistician leading the survey, told the Moscow City Council the city mailed 371 surveys on Sept. 22 with unique ID numbers linked to addresses; respondents could return paper surveys in prepaid envelopes or respond online via a QR code. Anderson said the city originally drew a sample of 500 addresses for the survey but mailed 371 envelopes as part of the field effort.
"HUD does not allow rounding," Anderson said, explaining that the American Community Survey data showed Moscow at 50.9% low-to-moderate income as of the last ACS update, just below the 51% threshold that would allow citywide competition for certain CDBG projects. Anderson said the city’s current survey result equates to about 44% LMI among returned surveys.
Anderson said 118 responses have been received — about 45 online and about 75 returned by mail — leaving roughly 160 more responses to reach the 278 needed. A small number of mailings were returned as undeliverable (about 10) and three recipients explicitly refused to respond, Anderson said. Door-to-door canvassing began Oct. 17 and staff are concentrating efforts on apartment complexes and student-saturated areas; the city plans additional evening and weekend canvassing and aims to finish fieldwork before Thanksgiving although the Department of Commerce deadline is Dec. 5.
Councilmembers asked how many responses canvassers must collect daily to meet the deadline; Anderson said teams need to average about five or six completed surveys per day to finish by the target. She said if the 75% response rate is not met, "It would not be a valid survey then," meaning the city could not use the survey to establish a citywide LMI percentage for CDBG eligibility.
Anderson and staff emphasized the mailing was anonymized: envelopes were addressed to "Resident" and each survey had a unique ID linked to address but not name. Councilmembers and staff said the city will continue follow-up measures, including re-mailing undeliverable addresses and concentrating door-knocking in clustered areas mapped by GIS.
Anderson said previous CDBG-funded projects in Moscow included public facility improvements such as restrooms and partial funding for fire equipment and community center projects. The council did not take formal action on the survey report at the Oct. 20 meeting; staff will return with updates as fieldwork continues.
