Wishing Shawn Bucholtz the Best as He Departs HUD

For the past 10 years, the AHS has been under the stewardship of Dr. Shawn Bucholtz. On Friday, September 25, Shawn will depart HUD to become the Chief Data Officer at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. We thank Shawn for his 10 years of service to HUD and we wish him the best at his new position. Below is a message from Shawn to the AHS user community

It has been my honor to oversee the AHS for the past decade. Throughout this time, we conducted five AHS’s and I am most proud of the various accomplishments to improve the AHS user experience, including the AHS Table Creator, the AHS web-based Codebook, the 20+ AHS Help Guides, and the 15+ AHS topical modules.

I want to extend a big thanks to five groups of people that have made my experience all the better. First, my dedicated HUD staff: George Carter, Carolyn Lynch, and Dav Vandenbroucke. In my early days at HUD, they were instrumental in bringing me up to speed on the history of the AHS. In addition to being wonderful people, each of them has consistently demonstrated professionalism and a dedication to HUD’s housing survey customers. The AHS will not skip a beat in their capable hands!

Second, I want to extend a big thanks to the AHS team at the Census Bureau. Led by the amazing Tamara Cole, the 30+ people on the Census Bureau AHS team have been instrumental in carrying out HUD’s vision for the AHS. So many of the AHS achievements over the past several years are due to their hard work and excellence.

Third, I want to extend a big thanks to the many people behind the scenes carrying out AHS activities, including the SP Group, Econometrica, Penngood, and Sage Computing. Your efforts to improve the visibility and usability of the AHS are greatly appreciated.

Fourth, I want to extend a big thanks to a few AHS “power users” who have taken on additional work throughout the years to help make the AHS what it is today. These folks include the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Association of Realtors, the National Multifamily Housing Council, the National Center for Healthy Homes, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Johns Hopkins University, and the Housing Assistance Council. There are undoubtably others I am forgetting to mention, so my apologies for any omissions!

Finally, I want to say thank you to you, the AHS user community. The AHS program, and me personally, have benefited immensely from your ideas, your advice, and your willingness to help HUD and the Census Bureau make the AHS America’s premier data source for housing costs and housing quality information. The thing I will miss the most are the conversations I have with you. There is nothing I enjoy more than hearing how you have put the AHS data into action in your work!

Please feel free to email me at shawn.bucholtz@gmail.com, follow me on Twitter (@ShawnBucholtz) or connect with me on Linkedin.