Using Federal Data Sources for Housing Advocacy

By Andrew Aurand, Vice President for The sample size from one year of ACS data is Research, National Low Income Housing not large enough to draw annual estimates for Coalition smaller populations. Therefore, multiple years of ACS data are combined for smaller areas. Housing advocates have long used federal data The Census Bureau releases five-year ACS data to measure, visualize, and communicate their that provides a five-year moving average for communities’ unmet housing needs to inform all communities, down to census tracts. The policy at the national, state, and local levels. Data five-year data are not as timely as the annual from the American Community Survey (ACS), for data, but they are more reliable (because of the example, allow us to quantify the critical housing larger sample) and available for many more shortage for extremely low-income renters. communities. ACS data are often used by federal HUD’s A Picture of Subsidized Households, agencies to determine how money is distributed meanwhile, gives us a look at the quantity and across the country. geographic distribution of HUD-subsidized housing. The ACS provides housing advocates with important information. The ACS for example The following section provides a brief overview captures data on housing costs and household of federal data sources for housing advocacy. income, allowing us to calculate the prevalence Members of Congress often threaten to cut of housing cost burdens across communities. financial resources for data collection and The data also allow us to measure the shortage dissemination, making it imperative that (or surplus) of housing for various income advocates and organizations promote and groups. NLIHC uses ACS data to produce its protect these programs. The Census Project, for annual report, The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable example, is a network of organizations that fight Homes, which estimates the shortage of against significant budget cuts to the planning affordable rental housing in each state, DC, and of the 2020 U.S. Decennial Census and the the largest metropolitan areas. Other important implementation of the ACS. variables in the ACS include race, household type, and employment. HOUSING NEED, SUPPLY, AND QUALITY The U.S. House of Representatives has voted in recent years to make participation in the American Community Survey ACS voluntary rather than mandatory of See https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ U.S. citizens by prohibiting enforcement. acs/ and http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/ Research from the Census Bureau shows that jsf/pages/index.xhtml. a voluntary ACS would lower response rates by as much as 20 percentage points (see The The ACS is a nationwide mandatory survey American Community Survey: Development, of approximately 3.5 million housing units Implementation, and Issues for Congress), annually, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. forcing the Bureau to send surveys to a larger The survey is distributed on a rolling basis, number of households and spend more time with approximately 295,000 housing units following up with them in person and by surveyed each month. The annual data provide telephone to encourage participation. These timely information on the demographic, social, additional steps would add to the Bureau’s economic, and housing characteristics of the expenses. If the ACS became voluntary and the nation, each state, the District of Columbia, and Bureau did not take these additional steps, the other jurisdictions with at least 65,000 residents.

2–30 2019 ADVOCATES’ GUIDE survey’s sample size would decline, resulting provide housing and services to the homeless in less accurate data, especially for small population must conduct a count each January communities and hard-to-reach populations. of sheltered homeless persons in emergency shelter, transitional housing, and Safe Havens. A Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy separate count is conducted every other January Data (every two years) of unsheltered homeless See https://bit.ly/29Epvjd. persons whose primary nighttime residence is The U.S. Census Bureau provides HUD with not ordinarily used as a regular place to sleep, custom tabulations of ACS data that allow users such as a car, park, abandoned building, or bus to gain a better understanding of the housing or train station. Although not required, HUD problems among households of different income encourages CoCs to conduct an annual count of levels. The Comprehensive Housing Affordability unsheltered homeless persons. Strategy (CHAS) data are primarily used by The PIT count is a labor-intensive task Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)- coordinated at the local level. The result is entitled communities in their HUD-required a point-in-time estimate of the number of Consolidated Plan and can also be useful for homeless in the U.S. and among specific housing advocates in measuring the housing subpopulations, such as individuals, families needs in their community. The CHAS data with children, veterans, unaccompanied youth, use HUD-defined income limits to categorize and the chronically homeless. These estimates households as extremely low-, very low-, low-, are published in HUD’s Annual Homeless and moderate-income. The data also count the Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress. number of housing units affordable to each of The Housing Inventory Count (HIC) is an these income groups. Therefore, the data provide inventory of beds available for the homeless a count of households at different income levels population by program, including emergency and the number of housing units affordable to shelters, supportive housing, and rapid them at the national, state, and local levels. The rehousing. data also provide important information on cost burdens, overcrowding, and inadequate kitchen American Housing Survey and plumbing by income level. The data can also See https://bit.ly/1xBqTYQ. be broken down by race, elderly/non-elderly status, household size, and disability status. The national American Housing Survey (AHS) is a longitudinal survey of housing units. It is The most recent CHAS data are from the five-year funded and directed by HUD and conducted by 2011-2015 ACS. HUD provides a web-based query the U.S Census Bureau every odd numbered year. tool that makes commonly used CHAS data readily The AHS is unique in that it follows the same available, particularly housing cost burdens, for housing units over time. The survey includes communities. More advanced users can download questions about the physical characteristics the CHAS raw data for more detailed analyses. and quality of housing units and about their HUD Point-in-Time Count and Housing Inventory occupants, so users can identify how the price, Count quality, and occupants of dwellings change over time. The same sample of housing units See www.hudexchange.info/resource/3031/ were followed from 1985 to 2013 with changes pit-and-hic-data-since-2007 and https://www. to the sample to account for new construction, hudexchange.info/homelessness-assistance/ demolitions, and conversions. ahar/#reports. A new national sample of housing units was HUD’s Point-in-Time (PIT) count is the primary drawn for the 2015 AHS. The core national tool for measuring the extent of homelessness sample represents the nation plus its 15 in the nation. Continuums of Care (CoC) that largest metropolitan areas. For the first time,

NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION 2–31 HUD-assisted units were identified through price range that movers could expect to pay administrative data and oversampled, for the cheapest 40% of apartments. In select so comparisons between subsidized and metropolitan areas where voucher holders are unsubsidized housing would be more reliable concentrated in certain neighborhoods, FMRs than in the past. Supplemental samples in the are set at the 50th percentile for a three-year time AHS provide data for additional metropolitan period. FMRs influence the maximum rent that areas, contingent on HUD’s budget. The 2015 an HCV will cover, so the 50th percentile FMRs AHS also included supplemental questions are intended to expand the range of housing on food security, healthy homes, housing opportunities available to voucher households, counseling, and neighborhood arts & culture. enabling them to deconcentrate out of low Supplemental questions typically change from opportunity areas. In FY19, there are three 50th survey-year to survey-year. The 2017 AHS percentile FMR areas. included supplemental questions on delinquent HUD published a final rule on November 16, housing payments, disaster preparedness, and 2016, that eventually eliminates 50th percentile commuting. FMRs and requires local public housing agencies The AHS is the data source for HUD’s Worst Case in 24 metropolitan areas to use Small Area Housing Needs Report provided to Congress FMRs rather than traditional FMRs to set HCV every two years. This report identifies the payment standards. Small Area FMRs reflect number of very low-income households in rents for U.S. Postal ZIP Codes, while traditional the U.S. who either spend more than half of FMRs reflect a single rent standard for an entire their income on housing or live in physically metropolitan region. The intent of Small Area inadequate housing. HUD provides data from FMRs is to provide voucher payment standards these reports, dating from 2001 to 2013, in its that are better aligned with neighborhood-scale Housing Affordability Data System. The AHS rental markets, resulting in relatively higher sample is not large enough to calculate estimates subsidies in neighborhoods with more expensive for specific states or smaller areas other than rents and lower subsidies in neighborhoods the metropolitan areas for which HUD includes a with lower rents. Small Area FMRs are expected supplemental sample. to help households use vouchers in higher opportunity neighborhoods. Small Area FMRs Fair Market Rents for all metropolitan areas are available on HUD’s See https://bit.ly/2bX49my. FMR webpages.

Fair Market Rents (FMRs) are published by Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Data and HUD each year for every metropolitan area Mapping Tool and nonmetropolitan county in the U.S. FMRs See https://egis.hud.gov/affht/ and https://www. represent the estimated cost of a modest hudexchange.info/resource/4867/affh-data-and- apartment for a household planning to move. mapping-tool/. They are used to determine payment standards for Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs), initial HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing renewal rents for some expiring project-based (AFFH) rule required CDBG-entitled Section 8 contracts, and initial rents in the communities to conduct an Assessment of Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Fair Housing (AFH) as part of their five-year program. FMRs also serve as rent ceilings for the Consolidated Plan. HUD effectively suspended HOME Investments Partnership program and the implementation of the rule in August 2018 (see Emergency Solutions Grants program. the AFFH section in Chapter 7 of this guide). The rule’s intention was to encourage communities In most metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan to plan for providing residents greater counties, FMRs are set at the 40th percentile residential choice and access to high opportunity of gross rents, which is the top end of the areas, such as those near good schools and

2–32 2019 ADVOCATES’ GUIDE employment. in census tracts of subsidized developments to examine the extent to which subsidized housing HUD’s AFFH Data and Mapping Tool (AFFH-T) is concentrated in high poverty or high minority provides some of the data HUD required neighborhoods. communities to include in their AFH. The AFFH-T provides maps and tables of HUD Community Assessment Reporting Tool demographics, combined with job proximity, See https://egis.hud.gov/cart/. school proficiency, environmental health, poverty, transit, and housing burdens. The The Community Assessment Reporting Tool map data also include the location of publicly (CART) allows users to map and explore HUD supported housing and Housing Choice investments in cities, counties, metropolitan Vouchers. A User Guide with instructions for areas, and states. The tool provides information using the AFFH-T is also available. about Community Planning and Development competitive and formula grants (e.g., HOME, U.S. Decennial Census CDBG, and CoC grants), rental programs (e.g. See http://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ Housing Choice Vouchers, Public Housing, and decennial-census/about.html. Project Based Rental Assistance), mortgage insurance, housing counseling, and other HUD The Decennial Census asks U.S. citizens a limited grants and programs. The tool also provides number of questions but serves an important data on selected demographics and housing cost Constitutional and governmental function. burdens. Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution mandates a full count of American residents National Housing Preservation Database every 10 years, which is used to apportion seats See http://www.preservationdatabase.org/. in the U.S. House of Representatives among the states. The Census Bureau distributes a The National Housing Preservation Database questionnaire to every U.S. household and (NHPD) was created in 2012 by NLIHC and group quarters, requesting basic demographic the Public and Affordable Housing Research information, such as age, sex, and race. The Corporation (PAHRC) to provide communities count is also used to help determine the and housing advocates with the information distribution of billions of dollars in federal they need to effectively identify and preserve money for infrastructure and other services. subsidized housing at risk of being lost from the affordable housing stock. NHPD is an online PUBLICLY ASSISTED HOUSING database of properties subsidized by federal housing programs, including HUD Project-Based Picture of Subsidized Households Rental Assistance, Section 202, HOME, USDA See https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ Rural Development (RD) housing programs, and picture/yearlydata.html. the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. This unique HUD’s Picture of Subsidized Households dataset includes the earliest date at which a provides data on the location and occupants of property’s subsidies might expire and property HUD’s federally subsidized housing stock. The characteristics significant in influencing whether programs represented in the dataset are Public the subsidized property might be at risk of Housing, Housing Choice Vouchers, Project leaving the subsidized housing stock, such as Based Section 8, Section 236, Section 202, location and ownership information. and Section 811. This dataset allows users to NHPD can be a useful resource for communities examine the income, age, household type, and to consider the location of publicly assisted racial distribution of occupants in subsidized housing relative to high opportunity areas, such housing at the national, state, metropolitan area, as those near good schools and employment. city, and project level. The data also include Subsidized housing in these areas could be at the poverty rate and percentage of minorities

NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION 2–33 greater risk of being lost from the affordable The Housing Vacancy Survey (www.census.gov/ housing stock. NHPD can aid housing advocates housing/hvs) is a supplement of the CPS that and communities in identifying where efforts quantifies rental and homeowner vacancy rates, must be made to preserve this housing. characteristics of vacant units, and the overall homeownership rate for states and the 75 largest OTHER DATA SOURCES metropolitan areas. HUD eGIS Open Data Storefront The Survey of Market Absorption (www.census. See http://hudgis-hud.opendata.arcgis.com/. gov/programs-surveys/soma.html) is a HUD- sponsored survey conducted by the Census HUD eGIS Open Data Storefront is a data portal Bureau of newly constructed multifamily that provides users with access to multiple HUD units. Each month, a sample of new residential datasets, including Community Development buildings containing five or more units is activities, HUD-insured multifamily properties, selected for the survey. An initial three-month and other rental housing assistance programs. survey collects data on amenities, rent or The portal also provides access to HUD’s sales price levels, number of units, type of mapping tools. building, and the number of units taken off Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) Data the market (absorbed). Follow-up surveys can be conducted at 6, 9, and 12 months. The data See http://www.consumerfinance.gov/hmda/. provide the absorption rate of new multifamily The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act requires housing. many lending institutions to publicly report The Survey of Income and Program Participation information about mortgage applications and (www.census.gov/sipp) is a Census Bureau their outcomes. The information that institutions survey that tracks families for two to four report includes whether the mortgage years, investigating household members’ application was for a home purchase, home sources of income, participation in government improvement, or refinancing; the type of loan transfer programs, and basic demographic (e.g. conventional vs. FHA); mortgage amount; characteristics. the applicant’s race, ethnicity, and gender; whether the application was approved; and census tract of the property’s location. Lenders WHAT ADVOCATES SHOULD are also required to identify high-priced loans KNOW with high interest rates or fees. The data can High-quality data that accurately reflect the be used to help identify discriminatory lending population requires participation. Housing practices, as well as examine the extent to which advocates should encourage everyone to fully lenders meet the mortgage investment needs participate in the Decennial Census, ACS, and of communities. Small lenders and those with other federal surveys for which they are selected. offices only in nonmetropolitan areas are not The accuracy and reliability of the Census’ required to report data. products depend on it.

Other Surveys Advocacy organizations, such as NLIHC and its state partners, use a variety of federal data The Current Population Survey (CPS) (www. to quantify the scarcity of housing affordable census.gov/cps) is a joint venture between the to the lowest income families, which makes it Department of Labor and the Census Bureau and easier to set specific and defensible goals for is the primary source of labor force statistics for expanding the affordable housing stock. NLIHC the U.S. population. The CPS’ Annual Social and for example provides housing profiles for each Economic Supplement provides official estimates U.S. state and Congressional district. of income, the poverty rate, and health insurance coverage of the non-institutionalized population.

2–34 2019 ADVOCATES’ GUIDE WHAT TO SAY TO LEGISLATORS Housing advocates should remind members of Congress of the importance of reliable and unbiased data to understanding and addressing our housing needs. Specific issues that advocates should highlight to members of Congress include: • Adequate funding for the U.S. Census Bureau to prepare for the 2020 Decennial Census is imperative. Appropriate preparation will allow the Census Bureau to save money in the long run. The Census Project provides relevant fact sheets and reports for advocates. • Adequate funding for the ACS and AHS is necessary to ensure that we have up-to- date and reliable data regarding the nation’s housing supply and needs. • Participation in the ACS needs to remain mandatory. Changing the ACS to a voluntary survey would lower response rates. The reliability of the survey’s findings would decline unless the Census Bureau spent millions of dollars in additional money each year to send the survey to a larger number of households and to conduct in-person or phone follow-ups to encourage participation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Association of Public Data Users, http://apdu.org/ HUD Office of Policy Development and Research, https://www.huduser.gov/portal/home.html The Census Project, https://thecensusproject.org/

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