A Picture of Subsidized Households Meaning of Codes(11)

1. U.S. totals
   
2. Special summaries, by sub-program or by size of agency. Actual size of agency is shown at end of record.


3. State total, also used for DC and outlying areas


4. Housing agency total*


5. No longer used


6. Project record (not for Certificates+Vouchers, Moderate Rehabilitation) A 'project' is a building or group of buildings funded at about the same time.


7. Census tract summary
   

   A Census tract is an area of about 1,500 homes, chosen by local communities in cooperation with the Census Bureau, as an area that is somewhat homogeneous socio-economically. Maps were published by the 1990 Census, showing tract boundaries
   

Programs are in the SECOND column. Numeric values are used in the data file, while letters are used in printed reports:

For summary level 6, projects: name is in the first 16 characters of this item, a brief address is in the next 16 characters and city is in the last 8 characters. When a project has more than one address, a central one was picked, as discussed below under "Latitude."

For any project in programs 2-4 (B, P, C) whose agency does not have the same code as the beginning of the project number, we put a note in the name (e.g. RQ001001 is noted as being: @RQ005). This is in positions 1-6 of the name, or at the end of the street address (columns 27-32 of this field, which are 31-36 of the record) if that part of the street address was blank.

For any project in programs 6-7 (S, T, F) the first character of the name shows the sub-program, and the name is actually in characters 2-12 of this item. The subprograms are:

For summary level 7 in program 1 (A), Census tract summaries across all programs, this item shows: population, renter households, and percent in various programs, in the format: "12345pop 2345ren 12P 12C 12H 12L". The abbreviations are as above, except H is a total of programs 6, 7 and 8 (S, T and F).

In summary levels 1-3, this code has a very brief label, like AL for Alabama. For summary levels 4-7, the meaning varies by program:

In program 1 (A: i.e., for tract summaries that include all programs present in the tract), this code shows: state, tilde (~), HUD units as % of housing units in the tract in 1990, and number of housing units in the tract in 1990, like "AL~12% 1234 "

In programs 2-5 (B, P, C, K) this code shows: state abbreviation, then blank and agency#, then blank and project# if any, like: "AK 001 001" In program 2 or B, an M after the project# (in the 11th character) means Mutual Ownership. Portability households are coded with the agencythey are billed to (whence they moved).

In program 6 or S this code shows: state, 2-digit HUD office, and project number, like "AK01R123456"

In programs 7-8, (T, F) this code shows: state, underline, 3-digit HUD office and project number, like "AK_11144666" For this group, if state was unknown, we generated it from the HUD field office code. There may be some errors where offices cross state lines.

In program 9 or L this code shows: state, curly bracket ({), then state-defined project ID, if any, like "AK{87-123"

This count is as of 5/98 (same as tenant data) for Public & Indian Housing, Certificates, Vouchers and Moderate Rehabilitation. In other programs it is not as recent as the tenant data: it is as of 9/30/95, except in Tax Credits it is 12/94.

If an agency overall has more Certificates+Vouchers than it reports on, we assume each tract has extra Certificates+Vouchers in the same proportion (but we assume no more than one and a half times as many in a tract as the number reported)..

The number of units was missing and had to be estimated for a few projects.

In Tax Credits, when we show 35 units we had no data (and used 35 since it is the national average); projects which truly had 35 or 36 units are shown as 36.

In Ofc. of Housing (programs 6-8 or S-F), 66 units mean we had no data (and used 66, the national average); 67 means actually 66 or 67.

In Public & Indian Housing, zero units are shown for 95 projects. It is believed most are not active project numbers.

This count is available in program 3 (P: Public Housing) from a source independent of the reports that describe individual households, so we can show household reports as a percent of occupied units (next item).

Elsewhere no data are actually available, and numbers are assumed, purely for calculating reporting rates: In program 6 (S) occupancy rates are stipulated at 98%, and in programs 7-8 (T, F) at 96% (Wallace 1993, page 2-27, though his figures are based on rent revenue, and occupancy is less). In other programs we stipulate 99%, since almost all units are assumed occupied.

We use household reports received through 5/98 or 7/98. Only the most recent report on each household is counted. We go far enough back in the files to have the same number of household reports as occupied units, in each Public & Indian project or Certificate+Voucher or Moderate Rehabilitation program, but no farther back than 30 months before 5/98. Households reported to have moved out are not counted, of course.

In Office of Housing programs we always use the most recent 30 months, and reduce weights in any projects with over-reporting. Over-reporting happens when agencies do not report move-outs, so more than one household is in the HUD file, for the same unit.

In Tax Credits no reporting is required. Some summary data are in the report, but not the data file, from Opportunities to Improve Oversight of the Low-Income Housing Program, 1997.

When households take certificates or vouchers to a new area (portability), they are reported by the local agency there, but are still billed to and in this file are counted against the original agency that issued them a certificate or voucher. The 1996 file wrongly counted them against the agency that reported them.

Some of the units available in Section 236 projects are occupied by households with incomes high enough to pay full rent, without subsidy. These households are not always reported to HUD and, if not, their characteristics are not included in this report.

If it is 100% or 0%, the project has reported only admissions, or no admissions, either of which is usually a data quality problem.

This item and all remaining items are expressed as a percent of occupied units, not available units.

The items were calculated from units for which household reports were received, and these are believed to be generally representative of all occupied units.

To find the number of people served by the agency, multiply this size by units available and % occupied.

This includes rent the household pays to the agency or landlord, and an estimate of any separately metered utilities they pay (and also ownership costs in Indian ownership programs).

Based on households with rent in the range $1-$2,498; other rents are considered errors. Virtually all zero rents are missing data, since the minimum rent (10% of income) applied to positive income (see note on missing data in income) gives positive gross rent. However if gross rent is lower than estimated utilities, rent to the agency or landlord may be zero.

This is item 14 on form HUD-50058 (highest of: 10% of gross income, 30% of adjusted income, or welfare rent), except in vouchers, where it is item 22k (total family contribution), and Indian Mutual, where it is item 17h (family cost).

For Public & Indian housing, this only includes 1996 operating and modernization spending, since the construction costs have already been paid for, and opportunity cost is not available. It omits Drug Elimination Grants, which are the only other major source of current spending.

Operating subsidy to all agencies, and modernization funding to large agencies (generally over 250 units), is distributed every year by formula so we use the actual funding.

For smaller agencies modernization funding is competitive, and they do not all receive it each year, so the actual funding in any one year would not reflect average long term costs. As an approximation we found the average modernization per unit, and multiplied this average by the units in each agency to estimate the long term expected value of modernization spending. A higher fraction of Indian agencies receive modernization than of other agencies, so we did the average separately for Indian and non-Indian agencies.

At each agency, for purposes of this summary, total spending is averaged per occupied unit per month, without differentiating among projects. In fact some projects receive more or less than average each year.

For other programs, total spending is calculated for each unit (from the rent calculation form) and averaged, so averages should vary correctly in each tract and agency. In Certificates+Vouchers and Moderate Rehabilitation our estimate also includes the 8% administrative fee.

This is basically total income before adjustments, expected for the next 12 months, but it does exclude some types of income which HUD regulations do not count at all, such as earnings of minors, and scholarships.

Averages below $1,000 are shown as .00-.99 thousand dollars. Averages below $10,000 are shown as 1.0-9.9 thousand dollars. Higher averages are shown as 10. to 99. thousand dollars. (All software that we are familiar with can handle this floating decimal point; normally declare the maximum width: 3 and maximum decimal positions: 2.)

Based on households with income in the range $1-99000. Virtually all zero incomes are missing data, since even homeless households moving in would expect some income assistance in the year to come.

Note that remaining households have majority of income from another source, such as pensions, Social Security, SSI, unemployment benefits or child support, or have a mixture, with no type giving a majority of income.

Welfare income may not all be identified in this file, because of changes in the welfare programs. In private projects (Office of Housing programs) the data collection form 50059 identifies "Public Assistance," and the instructions say this does not include Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In other programs, the form 50058 (6/93 version, used for most data in this report) has categories including SSI, AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children), General Assistance, and "Other nonwage." The 1997-98 versions of form 50058 have changed AFDC to the current national name TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; many states have unique local names). "Welfare" in this report includes Public Assistance from form 50059 and AFDC, TANF, and General Assistance from form 50058.

Before the new form 50058 came into use (and it is still not in use in some agencies), some TANF income may have been placed under Other nonwage, or other categories which are not counted as welfare here, or the source of income may have been left blank. It will always be hard to measure a national program with 20-30 local names.

Data on source of income (both wages & welfare) had to be suppressed in the New York City Housing Authority (NY 005), since only 1% were reported to be on welfare, which indicated some error in processing the data on source of income.

This is the coefficient of variation, which is the standard deviation of income, as a percent of the average income. The standard deviation measures how far each household's income is from the average income. Incomes that are far above or below average have large effects, since the differences are squared before being averaged. A correction in the calculations results in 11% larger income mix estimates in programs 6-7 (S, T, F), and 4% larger nationally.

Local median incomes are estimated regularly by HUD, because they are used in setting income limits for housing subsidies. The most common income limit is L50, 50% of local median income, adjusted for household size. There are some state and national floors and ceilings, which restrict the amount of variation from area to area. Here we compare the income of each subsidized household to the local adjusted median income (i.e. twice the L50 limit), so for example if local median income is $30,000 (and the L50 limit is $15,000), then a subsidized household with $10,000 income has 33% of local median income.

Every year, HUD estimates the median income of families in each metropolitan area and each non-metropolitan county, in order to establish income limits. That estimate is based on both subsidized and unsubsidized families. "Families," used in establishing median incomes, include only people living together who are related by blood, marriage or adoption; people living alone are not used for establishing median incomes, but of course they are eligible for subsidy, and are included in all the statistics on subsidized housing.

When we say "adjusted for household size" we mean the following: We make no adjustment in households with 4 people. We reduce the denominator (the estimate of local median income) by 10% for each person under 4 in a household (3 people: 90% of the 4-person denominator; 2 people: 80%; 1 person: 70%). We increase the denominator 8% for each person over 4 in the household (5 people: 108% of the 4-person denominator; 6 people: 116%; etc.).

The terms family and household here have specific meanings. The area median income is based on both subsidized and unsubsidized families. Families include only people living together who are related by blood, marriage or adoption; people living alone are not used for establishing median incomes. They all are included in the broader term household and all are of course eligible for subsidy, so when writing about people living in subsidized units, we use the broad term households. There is also another sense of family, as opposed to elderly households, which was once a common distinction in HUD programs. We avoid that usage, since we now have many non-elderly single people in HUD programs. When we want to indicate households where the head and spouse are under age 62, we use the term non-elderly.

For Public Housing projects, this is the difference between: % minority for the project, and overall % minority for Public Housing at the agency. Difference is shown for each project (in absolute value). Average of these differences is shown for each agency.

For Certificates+Vouchers (which do not have projects), difference is based on Census tracts with more than 10 households reported: average difference between: % minority among Certificates+Vouchers in the tract, and overall % minority among Certificates+Vouchers at the agency.

Summaries of this item exclude agencies that are under 5% or over 95% minority, and agencies with only one project or tract, since there cannot be much difference there.

We treat units with no bedrooms reported and more than 2 people as missing data, and omit them from numerator & denominator of bedroom percents.

Note that 2-bedroom units can be obtained by subtraction.

Households are reported annually, on a flow basis, so for good recent data the average should be about 6 months. Larger averages mean recent data have not been received, or have not been accepted, because of errors.

For projects with only one address, we give its latitude and longitude. For projects with more than one address, we pick the address that is closest to the median latitude and median longitude of the whole project, and use this address' latitude, longitude, zip code, county, tract, etc. (see Subsidized Housing Projects' Geographic Codes, 1996)

Negative means West longitude, which covers most of the United States. Zero is on a line through Ghana, Spain & Britain; negative numbers go to -180 in the Aleutians; positive numbers go to +180, also in the Aleutians.

Distances in miles between points a and b can be calculated (where f=.0174532925 and converts from degrees to radians):

IF abs(longa-longb) < .001 THEN

distance = abs(lata-latb) * 69.055

ELSE

distance = 3956.56 * arcos{ [sin(lata*f) * sin(latb*f)]
+ [cos(lata*f) * cos(latb*f) * cos(abs(longa-longb)*f)] }

END IF

State in first 2 positions: 2-digit code, from 01 for Alabama to 78 for Virgin Islands. Consistent with the 2-letter abbreviation in the earlier item, "Code" except for portability, where "Code" shows the state that issued the Certificates+Vouchers, and this field shows the state where they are used. These 2 columns are only in the data file, not in the printed report.

County in next 3 positions: 3-digit code, unique within state. 888 means no county has 1/3 of units

Census tract in last 7 positions: 7-digit code, for the tract surrounding the project, code unique within county, including decimal point and 2 decimal places. 8888.00 means no tract has 1/3 of units. These 7 columns are only in the data file, not in the printed report.

These are FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) codes, consistent with the 1990 Census codes & maps. For example 060710022.01 is in California (06), in San Bernardino County (071), tract 22.01.

This, like other items, is averaged for all projects, weighted by number of units in each project

0 means not in any metropolitan area (blank or -1 means status unknown)

8888 means no metro area has 1/3 of units.

MSA and PMSA (Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area) codes form one consistent series; the distinction is minor: PMSAs are pieces of even larger "Consolidated" areas (CMSAs), while MSAs are free-standing.

These are statistical areas established by the Office of Management and Budget. HUD has subdivided some for setting Fair Market Rents and Income Limits, and HUD's areas are not reflected here