In February 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau produced a Job - Aid for use by 2010 Census Address Canvassing listers to improve their ability to locate “Hard - to - Find Units in Small Multi - Unit Buildings.” This Job - Aid was created with input from internal stakeholders such as Field Division , Decennial Statistical Studies Division , and Decennial Management Division , as well as external stakeholders such as the Director of the Population Division at the Department of City Planning in New York City. Special procedures were provided in the Job - Aid, also known as Form D - 461.1, to meet the needs of areas recognized to contain a higher than average density of small multi - unit structures. The Job - Aid was available to all Regional Census Centers, and the regional management decided which areas would use the Job - Aid in the 2010 Address Canvassing operation.

Decennial Statistical Studies Division conducted this evaluation as part of the 2010 Census Program for Evaluations and Experiments to judge the effectiveness of the Job - Aid at improving address list updating for small multi - unit structures. This was accomplished through an address listing activity occurring March through May 2010.