2015 AHS PUF Update

2015 AHS PUF Update

HUD and Census are tentatively planning to publish the 2015 AHS Public Use Files (PUFs) on Wednesday, March 29, 2017. HUD and Census will release one PUF for the integrated National sample (includes top 15 metropolitan areas and HUD oversample) and one PUF for the 10 independent Metropolitan Area samples.

Along with the PUFs, HUD and Census will release three items developed to assist AHS PUFs users. All items will be available on the Census AHS website and specific links will be provided as soon as the data and documents are live.

The first item is a document called "Getting Started with the PUF: 2015 and beyond." This help guide includes everything HUD and Census believe users need to know about the 2015 AHS PUFs. HUD and Census strongly encourage users to read this guide before downloading and using the 2015 AHS PUFs.

The second item is the Interactive Codebook Database. The Interactive Codebook Database replaces the printed codebook. The Interactive Codebook Database is organized by topic and sub-topic, searchable, available in multiple formats, and spans surveys from 1997 through 2015. Included with the Database is a "skinny" version of the 2015 codebook will make it easy for 2015 AHS PUFs users to skim through all the variables available in 2015. Also included with the database is a spreadsheet that maps 2011/2013 AHS PUFs variables to 2015 AHS PUFs variables.

The third item HUD and Census will release is a document titled "Sample Design, Weighting, and Errors Estimation." This document contains the detailed information about the 2015 sample design, weighting process, as well an explanation for how to calculate errors from sampling. There are separate documents for the integrated National sample and independent Metropolitan Areas sample.

Shawn Bucholtz
Director, Housing and Demographic Analysis
Office of Policy Development and Research
Department of Housing and Urban Development
C: 202-491-7955