The purpose of the American Housing
Survey (AHS) is to supply the public with detailed and timely
information about housing quality, housing costs, and neighborhood
assets, in support of effective housing policy, programs, and
markets. Like the previous surveys, the 2019 AHS will collect
‘‘core’’ data on subjects, such as the amount and types of changes
in the housing inventory, the physical condition of the housing
inventory, the characteristics of the occupants, housing costs for
owners and renters, the persons eligible for and beneficiaries of
assisted housing, remodeling and repair frequency, reasons for
moving, the number and characteristics of vacancies, and
characteristics of resident’s neighborhood. In addition to the
‘‘core’’ data, HUD plans to collect supplemental data on
post-secondary education, modifications made to assist occupants
living with disabilities, and information on people’s concerns
regarding the availability and affordability of food. The AHS
national longitudinal sample consists of approximately 85,200
housing units, and includes oversample from the largest 15
metropolitan areas, and approximately 5,200 HUD-assisted housing
units. In addition to the national longitudinal sample, HUD plans
to conduct 10 additional metropolitan area longitudinal samples,
each with approximately 3,000 housing units (for a total 30,000
metropolitan area housing units). The 10 additional metropolitan
area longitudinal samples were last surveyed in 2015. To help
reduce respondent burden on households in the longitudinal sample,
the 2019 AHS will make use of dependent interviewing techniques,
which will decrease the number of questions asked. Policy analysts,
program managers, budget analysts, and Congressional staff use AHS
data to advise executive and legislative branches about housing
conditions and the suitability of public policy initiatives.
Academic researchers and private organizations also use AHS data in
efforts of specific interest and concern to their respective
communities. HUD needs the AHS data for two important uses. 1. With
the data, policy analysts can monitor the interaction among housing
needs, demand and supply, as well as changes in housing conditions
and costs, to aid in the development of housing policies and the
design of housing programs appropriate for different target groups,
such as first-time home buyers and the elderly. 2. With the data,
HUD can evaluate, monitor, and design HUD programs to improve
efficiency and effectiveness. In addition to the core 2019 AHS, HUD
plans to collect supplemental data on housing insecurity in a
follow-on survey to the AHS. Housing insecurity is defined as a
significant lapse for a given household of one or more elements of
secure housing. These elements include affordability, stable
occupancy, and whether the housing is decent and safe.
‘‘Affordability’’ implies that shelter costs are manageable over
the long term without severely burdening or compromising other
consumption that normally is essential for health and well-being.
The second element, ‘‘stable occupancy’’, implies that the
household does not face substantial risk of involuntary
displacement for economic or noneconomic reasons. The final
element, ‘‘decent and safe’’, implies that a unit has physical
attributes that satisfy functional needs for well-being related to
health, security, and support for activities of daily living. Such
attributes include appropriate facilities for excluding external
threats, providing climate control, storing and preparing food,
maintaining physical and mental hygiene, and developing human
potential. Not included are aspects of the neighborhood or
environment that one encounters beyond the confines of the
structure or property. HUD plans to conduct the Housing Insecurity
Follow-On survey concurrently with the 2019 AHS. Respondents who
meet certain criteria based on their responses to the
2019.
The 2019 data collection
procedures and questionnaire content are similar to the 2017 survey
with the following exceptions: a. Removal of Four Supplemental
Modules from the 2017 AHS: The Disaster Planning, Delinquent
Payments and Notices, Commuting, and Eviction supplemental modules
will not be included in the 2019 survey. b. Reinstatement of the
Food Security Module: The Food Security module was first included
in the 2015 AHS. For the 2019 AHS, there are no changes to this
supplemental module. It will continue to collect data on the
intersection between food security and housing costs. Food-insecure
households lack consistent access to adequate food for one or more
household members. To this point, data have not been available to
enable research on housing burden and food security jointly. Food
security data in the AHS would support research to understand this
relationship at the household level, and to examine the role
housing and energy assistance may have in moderating it. Most
policy research has focused on the effects of food and nutrition
assistance programs on food insecurity. The 2019 AHS will allow
analysis of how HUD assistance programs, especially rental
assistance, affect food security assistance. c. Introduction of Two
New Supplemental Modules: To continue the strategy of supplemental
modules in order to minimize respondent burden and satisfy widening
needs for data content, two new supplemental modules have been
added to the survey – Home Accessibility and Post-Secondary
Education modules. These modules collect data on modifications made
to assist occupants living with disabilities and details about the
experiences of household members attending a post-secondary
institution. The Home Accessibility module is derived from the 2011
AHS module on modifications made to the house to accommodate
persons with disabilities. Please refer to the attached items
booklet for the questions in these modules and the entire AHS
questionnaire. d. Introduction of a Housing Insecurity Research
Module Follow-On: The goal of developing the Housing Insecurity
Research Module is to collect data that can be used to explore the
feasibility of constructing a standardized series of questions to
measure the continuum of housing insecurity in the model of the
transferable U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module developed
by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A transferable survey
module, if feasible, will help researchers build a more robust and
coherent body of knowledge around housing needs, trade-offs, and
correlates, enhancing the quality and consistency of
policy-relevant research, and amplifying the visibility of the
continuum of housing needs. A transferable module that produces a
household-level housing insecurity score will be a tool for
studying both the extent to which housing insecurity explains other
observed outcomes and which interventions are likely to improve
housing security. The Housing Insecurity Research Module follow-on
will be administered after the regular AHS interview. The Module
will be administered to 4,000 AHS respondents selected based on
income and other criteria. e. Sample Split for Supplemental
Modules: A split of the survey sample will be used to maximize the
number of supplemental modules that can be included in the 2019
AHS. Fifty percent of the sample will be asked the Post-Secondary
Education and Food Security modules. The other 50 percent will be
asked the Home Accessibility module. As noted above, 4,000
respondents will receive the Housing Insecurity Research Module. f.
AHS Incentive Pilot: The proposed incentive project will test
whether offering incentives in geographic areas with a high risk of
non-response can successfully increase responses from communities
that would otherwise be underrepresented, resulting in lower
non-response bias.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection-American Housing Survey (2019).pdf
Title 12.docx
Housing Insecurity Research Module Follow-On-Occupied Interviews