100 000 Picture

[Elisabet Schwartzkopf]

In public housing, local housing agencies receive allocations of HUD funding to build, operate or make improvements to housing. The housing is owned by the local agencies. Public housing is a form of project-based subsidy because households may receive assistance only if they agree to live at a particular public housing project.

Currently, tenant based assistance is the most prevalent form of housing assistance provided. Historically, tenant based assistance began with the Section 8 certificate and voucher programs, which were created in 1974 and 1983, respectively. These programs were replaced by the Housing Choice Voucher program, under legislation enacted in 1998. Tenant based programs allow participants to find and lease housing in the private market. Local public housing agencies (PHAs) and some state agencies serving as PHAs enter into contracts with HUD to administer the programs. The PHAs then enter into contracts with private landlords. The housing must meet housing quality standards and other program requirements. The subsidies are used to supplement the rent paid by low-income households. Under tenant-based programs, assisted households may move and take their subsidy with them. The primary difference between certificates and vouchers is that under certificates, there was a maximum rent which the unit may not exceed. By contrast, vouchers have no specific maximum rent; the low-income household must pay any excess over the payment standard, an amount that is determined locally and that is based on the Fair Market Rent. HUD calculates the Fair Market Rent based on the 40th percentile of the gross rents paid by recent movers for non-luxury units meeting certain quality standards.

Picture of Subsidized Households describes the 4.9 million households living in HUD-subsidized housing in the United States for the year 2000. Like previous editions, Picture 2000 provides characteristics of assisted housing units and residents, summarized at the national, state, public housing agency (PHA), project, and census tract levels. However, Picture 2000 now includes summary data for Metropolitan Statistical Areas and cities.

Also new in this release: you can create custom queries of the Picture data by geography and by HUD program, and retrieve exactly the data you need (see steps 1-5). Or, you can download complete summary files (see Download section below). You also may export PICTURE data to your Geographic Information System (GIS) software for mapping (see GIS section below).

Data are available for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. To view or download data for a particular State, please select from either the map (state abbreviation) or the appropriate letter below.

When you view a file, you can locate any name or number by the Find command in your browser. The view shows mnemonics every 22 lines to help label the data, but you also need to read the Detailed Explanation of the Variables. The downloadable files are comma- and quote-delimited and do not have the mnemonic lines.

Documentation More details about the data can be obtained by selecting from the following topics:

• General Description of the Data and Bibliography
• Detailed Explanation of the Variables
• Download the WordPerfect report for Picture of Subsidized Housing 1998. This report contains text and tables.
• Download the Supplement report on 1998 Incomes & Household Members - in WordPerfect
• Send Comments to help...@huduser.gov

The files use May 1998 through June 1998 data on the types of households in subsidized housing programs. The Census Tract Summary (Neighborhood) files show census tract data as of 1990. This is a working document and will be corrected as new information is received. We have tried to minimize errors, but the data come from so many different sources that errors undoubtedly remain. The material was compiled by Paul Burke 202-708-1060 x5888, who will appreciate comments and corrections. Highlights Major Findings

• The report covers nearly five million subsidized housing units, with 11 million people. Data on the occupants are missing on 16% of these units. Data on location are also missing on 16% of units, but not always the same units (pp. 6-7)
• A quarter of households are wage earners. The average income of subsidized households is $9,500 per year, and 17% have incomes below $5,000. Most projects have a moderate income mix. (pp. 8-10)
• A third of households are elderly. Over half are minorities. Two fifths include a single adult with children. (pp. 8-14)
• Subsidized households have been in their subsidy program for 6 years on average, and recent arrivals averaged 1 3/4 years (21 months) on the waiting list. (pp. 13-14)
• The average subsidized unit is in a neighborhood where one eighth of the neighborhood are subsidized, one quarter are poor, and half are minority. (pp. 13-16)
• Six sevenths of people in the United States have one or more subsidized housing units in their neighborhood. (p. 16)
• Most projects and housing agencies are small, but most subsidized units are in the large projects and agencies. (pp. 17, 40)

The information in this report is neither private nor copyrighted and may be copied. When citing it, please include the title with date: A Picture of Subsidized Households in 1998. Timeliness of Data A major goal of these studies has been to show the wide diversity of households served in different projects and neighborhoods. Therefore most effort has been spent on obtaining recent household data. Older data are used for the number of units in each project and agency. Fortunately the number of units does not change much, so the older data on units stay quite accurate. Dates of Data on the Following Subjects: Averages & Percents of Households, & Number of Certificates+Vouchers in Tracts Date of Study Public & Indian Housing, S.8 Certificates+Vouchers, S.8 Moderate Rehabilitation S.8 New+Substant.Rehab., S.236, Other Subsidy Tax Credits Completeness (average for all programs) 1998 5/98 7/98 1996 84% 1997 6/97 7/97 NA 80% 1996 9/96 10/95 NA 75% 1993 *8/93 NA NA *80% 1970s *9/77 NA NA *81% Dates of Data on the Following Subjects: Number of Units in Agencies & Projects Date of Study Public & Indian Housing, S.8 Certificates+Vouchers, S.8 Moderate Rehabilitation S.8 New+Substant.Rehab., S.236, Other Subsidy Tax Credits Completeness (average for all programs) 1998 5/98 9/95 12/94 100% 1997 6/97 9/95 12/94 100% 1996 9/95 9/95 12/94 100% 1993 *8/93 NA NA *100% 1970s *6/77 NA NA *100% * Public & Indian Housing only Differences from the 1997 and 1996 File Used more recent & more complete data. Differences from previous reports generally reflect this improved coverage, more than true change over time. Added brief descriptions of programs. Added codes & summaries for sub-programs in the Office of Housing, such as Section 202 and Loan Management Set-Asides. Added "household income as percent of adjusted local median income" for Office of Housing programs, so it is now available for all programs. Added data on spending for Section 236 and "Other" subsidies. Spending was not updated in Public and Indian Housing, but changes in occupied units may affect figures on spending per unit. Slightly longer project names & addresses. Improved weighting: when Public, Indian, Certificates+Vouchers, or Moderate Rehabilitation reported more units in the last 30 months than the total occupied units (i.e. they have not reported move-outs) we use the most recent reports, up to the number of units occupied. Previously we used all reports in the past 30 months. This change results in more recent data and a more accurate description of current occupants. More specific geographic codes for multi-county agencies: when they are in more than one county (or place, zip code, etc.) we try to determine which county has the most units, and if it has at least a third, we use that county code, otherwise we still use 888 as a code for multiple counties. Added standard numeric state codes and rearranged county & tract codes into standard 12-character Census tract FIPS code Corrected calculations of income mix, resulting in 11% larger estimates of income mix in private subsidized projects, and 4% larger nationally. Dropped data on assets, to protect disclosure of locations of elderly households with significant assets. Combined counts of 0-1 bedrooms, and dropped 2 bedrooms, which can be obtained by subtraction. Other Differences from the 1996 File More addresses and geographic codes. Households which have used portability to move, are now counted under the agency that pays their subsidy, not the place they moved to. Note that if portability households are the only ones reported, their geographic codes reflect where they moved to, rather than the true location of the agency. Where to Get Data This report is available from HUD USER at 800-245-2691 or 202-708-3178 (TDD 800-877-8674), P O Box 6091, Washington, D.C. 20850. The text and more complete data (including all projects, neighborhood summaries, and other years) are also on Internet at: People without Internet access may obtain the computer files from HUD USER for a fee. If you browse the file on Internet, your browser probably has a "look for" button, so you can move quickly to any city name, project name, project number, etc. If you download the data to your own computer, you can use a spreadsheet, database, or other package. Such packages let you:

• Jump to any part of the file (often using the f5 key, or a command to "look for" a specific name)
• Sort the records to see the highest incomes, or most concentrated tracts, or most integrated large projects, etc. (for example sort by record type and income)
• Print selected items (highlight items you want, and/or set width of other items to zero)
• Print a referral list of subsidized housing in an area, with size, turnover, % elderly, neighborhood characteristics, etc.
• Prepare maps, using latitude & longitude from this file (44 colored maps are in the 1996 printed report, volume 11)

Records for any particular town are usually found in two places in a file: Programs run by local housing agencies are listed first, by the number of the agency. Other programs are listed later, by county and zip code. They can be re-sorted as needed. The national data file is about 50 megabytes (240 characters per record times 192,313 records), sorted by project number. State files are smaller (same record length, but fewer records). File names include "hud4" to distinguish them from earlier files. Note that Certificates+Vouchers issued in one state and used in another ("portability") are included with the state that issued them, though they could be re-sorted to the state where they are used (see "tract" in the "Meaning of Codes" section). hud4.wk1 Empty spreadsheet file, ready to fill: labels and widths of variables are already defined hud4.dbf Empty data base file, ready to fill: names and widths of variables are already defined readme4.txt Documentation
DataDocumentationFAQsThis Web site sketches a picture of nearly five million subsidized households across the United States. It includes: (1) Totals; (2) Indian Housing; (3) Public Housing; (4) Section 8 Certificates and Vouchers; (5) Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation; (6) Section 8 New and Substantial Rehabilitation; (7) Section 236; (8) Other HUD subsidies; and (9) Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). Each line of data is identified by these key numbers, 1-9, in the second position of each data record. 1997 Data are available for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. To view or download data for a particular State, please select from either the map (state abbreviation) or the appropriate letter below.

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