A Picture of 

Disability and 

Designated 

Housing

Multi-Disciplinary

Research Team

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development | Office of Policy Development and Research
A Picture of Disability and Designated Housing 

Multi-Disciplinary Research Team 

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 

Office of Policy Development and Research 

March 6, 2015 

Submitted by: 

Economic Systems Inc. 

Falls Church, Virginia 

Prepared by: 

Casey J. Dawkins, Ph.D., and Mark Miller 

National Center for Smart Growth 

University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 
About MDRT 

PD&R developed the Multidisciplinary Research Team (MDRT) vehicle to manage a 

team of qualified researchers. Researchers are selected for their expertise to produce an 

array of high quality, short-turnaround research. MDRT researchers use a variety of HUD 

and external data sources to answer research questions relating to HUD’s priority policies 

and strategic goals. 

Disclaimer

The contents of this report are the views of the contractor and do not necessarily reflect 

the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or the 

U.S. government. 
i 

Table of Contents 

Introduction and Overview ............................................................................................................. 3

Background: HUD Programs Serving the Needs of the Disabled .................................................. 4

Defining Disability................................................................................................................ 5

Data and Research Methods ............................................................................................................ 6

Prevalence of Disabilities in the U.S. and in HUD Programs ........................................................ 7

Availability of Assisted HUD Units in Relation to Need ............................................................. 17

Supply of and Demand for Accessible Assisted Units ....................................................... 20

Conclusions and Policy Implications ............................................................................................ 26

References ..................................................................................................................................... 29

Appendix A. Explanation of data products ................................................................................... 30

Data products derived from public summary files .............................................................. 30

Data products derived from HUD administrative data ....................................................... 32

Public Housing Statistics .................................................................................................... 36

Multifamily Assisted Program Statistics ............................................................................ 37

Assisted Unit Count ............................................................................................................ 39

Supply and Demand Statistics ............................................................................................ 39

Appendix B. Variable Codebook .................................................................................................. 42

List of Tables 

Table 1: Disabled persons per 1,000 occupied housing units by sex and age category ........... 8

Table 2: Disabled and nondisabled persons per 1000 occupied housing units by age, poverty 

status, and geography ...................................................................................................................... 9

Table 3: Number of households with at least one disabled person by type of disability, tenure 

status, and household income as a percent of HAMFI (in thousands) .......................................... 10

Table 4: Percentage of households with at least one disabled person by type of disability, 

tenure status, and household income as a percent of HAMFI ...................................................... 12

Table 5: Number of disabled members per 1000 HUD-assisted units by sex and age ........... 14

Table 6: Number of HUD-assisted households containing at least one disabled person per 

1000 HUD-assisted units, by household income (as a percent of HAMFI) ................................. 16
ii

Table 7: Summary statistics, among HUD-assisted households in public housing ................ 18

Table 8: Multifamily housing statistics .................................................................................. 19

Table 9: Summary of supply and demand for affordable housing among disabled households

....................................................................................................................................................... 21

Table 10: Summary of supply and demand for affordable housing among disabled 

households, by quartile using county level averages (among counties with HUD assistance) .... 23
3 

Introduction and Overview 

This report examines the characteristics of federally-assisted housing designated for disabled 

households living in the U.S. Prior research suggests that disabled persons face significant 

challenges when trying to secure affordable, high quality housing. The 2009 “Worst Case 

Housing Needs of People with Disabilities” report (Souza et al. 2011) finds that renter 

households with nonelderly disabled members are more likely than nondisabled households to 

have very low incomes, experience worst case housing needs, pay more than 50 percent of their 

income on rent, and live in inadequate or overcrowded housing. The inadequate housing 

conditions of the disabled reflects both the relatively lower incomes and assets of disabled 

persons (She and Livermore 2009) combined with the lack of available housing with 

accessibility features. Hoffman and Livermore (2012) find that disabled persons also tend to live 

in less desirable neighborhoods than non-disabled persons. Such neighborhoods exhibit lower 

median incomes, lower fair market rents, poorer access to public services, and more 

neighborhood problems such as crime and heavy street noise. 

Due to their lower incomes, a significant share of disabled households are eligible to receive or 

already receive federal housing assistance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD). According to the 2013 Picture of Subsidized Households 

(http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/picture/yearlydata.html), approximately 20 percent of 

households receiving assistance from HUD are disabled. Among those with household heads 

aged 62 or older, this percentage is twice as high (40 percent) and exhibits substantial variability 

across HUD program type. Given that the prevalence of disability within the U.S. is expected to 

increase over time with the aging of the baby boomer population, it is important to understand 

whether HUD’s assisted housing programs adequately address the growing needs of this 

population. This report sheds light on these issues. The objective of this research is to 

consolidate administrative data and survey data related to households with disabilities and 

designated housing in a form similar to the Picture of Subsidized Households, which presents 

information on HUD program participants by various levels of geography. We use these data to 

address the following research questions: 

 In HUD housing programs and the broader population, what are the prevalence and 

characteristics of households containing one or more persons with disabilities, by type of 

disability and geographic unit?

 What is the availability of assisted units that the public housing authority or 

owner/managing agent has designated as accessible, in relation to the need at different 

geographic levels? 

 What policy recommendations are supported by the evidence on disability and designated 

units, and how should HUD data resources be revised to address future questions 

pertaining to disability? 

This report is structured as follows: The background section gives an overview of the major 

HUD programs designed to serve the needs of the disabled population. Next, we provide a brief 

description of the data relied upon for the analyses and research methods employed. The main 
4 

body of the report addresses the research questions posed above, with policy recommendations 

addressed in the conclusion section. Appendix A provides a detailed discussion of the methods 

and assumptions used to assemble the data analyzed in this report, and Appendix B provides a 

description of all variables assembled for the final analytical dataset (provided as a separate 

Excel file). 

Background: HUD Programs Serving the Needs of the Disabled 

We begin with an overview of HUD programs serving the disabled, followed by a discussion of 

how “disability” is defined in this report. All of HUD’s programs serve a portion of the disabled 

population. According to the 2013 Picture of Subsidized Households, households with 

disabilities are most prevalent, 32 percent, in the Moderate Rehabilitation program,1

followed by 

the Housing Choice Voucher program, the Section 8 New Construction/Substantial 

Rehabilitation program, and the public housing program. The smallest percentages of disabled 

persons are served by the Section 236 and other multifamily programs. 

The Section 202 and Section 811 programs are the largest and longest standing programs 

targeted specifically to the needs of disabled persons. Section 202 was created in 1959 to house 

low income elderly persons aged 62 and older. The program provides low interest loans (and 

later project-based Section 8 rental assistance contracts) to nonprofit developers seeking to 

construct housing for families with elderly members. In 1964, handicapped persons were added 

to the definition of eligible elderly families. Until 1990, Section 202 served the needs of both 

elderly and disabled populations, although a separate set-aside was established in 1978 to focus 

specifically on the needs of nonelderly disabled individuals. That set-aside was expanded into the 

newly-created Section 811 program in 1990 to focus specifically on the needs of nonelderly 

disabled persons between 18 and 61. The funding mechanism also changed to emphasize capital 

grants rather than loans. The 2010 Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act changed 

the manner in which Section 811 project rental assistance contracts (PRAC) could be used. 

Previously, these subsidies could only be tied to units developed using Section 811 capital 

grants. With the 2010 changes, PRACs could be used to subsidize multifamily units developed 

using other sources, including the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, HOME funds, and other 

sources. Programmatic changes were also implemented to encourage the integration of disabled 

households into the larger community. After 2010, disabled households living in multifamily 

units developed using Section 811 could only constitute 25 percent of the total number of units in 

the building (Perl 2013; Schwartz 2015). 

Disabled households may also qualify for tenant-based rental assistance. Under the Section 811 

program, “mainstream” vouchers were created in 1992 to serve the needs of disabled households 

seeking housing in the private market. The funding for the mainstream voucher program was 

eventually absorbed by the Section 8 tenant-based voucher program. Beginning in 2005, HUD 

 

1

 Although the Moderate Rehabilitation program serves the highest percent of disabled households, this program 

serves few households compared to other HUD programs, so the total number of disabled persons served is quite 

small. 
5 

required voucher-administering agencies to help participants of the program find supportive 

services and provide assistance to landlords in making reasonable accommodations to serve the 

needs of disabled mainstream voucher holders. No new vouchers have been issued under this 

program since 2006. The Section 8 (now Housing Choice Voucher) program also provides 

tenant-based rental assistance targeted directly to families with a disabled adult in the household. 

These are often referred to as “designated” vouchers or vouchers for “certain developments.” 

Beginning with the 2010 Frank Melville Act, all mainstream and designated vouchers were to be 

made available to other disabled households upon turnover (Devine 2000; Perl 2013; Schwartz 

2015).

An important policy question of interest is the extent to which disabled households participate in 

programs specifically targeted to the disabled versus participating in other HUD programs. Since 

programs targeted to the disabled are often combined with supportive services, physical 

accommodations, and technical assistance to landlords for accommodating disability needs, 

participants in targeted HUD programs likely receive more accommodations than other HUD 

program participants. We address this issue later in the report. 

Defining Disability 

Although the HUD definition of disability has varied over time and across program category, our 

report relies on data from HUD’s most recent administrative records to characterize the disabled 

population and make comparisons with the characteristics of the larger disabled population living 

in the U.S. Varying definitions of disability across the two populations make such comparisons 

challenging. For the population at large, the American Community Survey includes questions 

about disability status. This report defines disability for the larger population based on the 

current definition first introduced in 2008. According to the U.S. Census, disabled persons are 

those exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics 

(https://www.census.gov/people/disability/methodology/acs.html):

 Sensory Disability – Conditions that include blindness, deafness, or a severe vision or 

hearing impairment. 

 Physical Disability – Conditions that substantially limit one or more basic physical 

activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting, or carrying. 

 Mental Disability – Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition lasting 6 

months or more, the person has difficulty learning, remembering or concentrating. 

 Self-care Disability – Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition lasting 6 

months or more, the person has difficulty dressing, bathing, or getting around inside the 

home. 

 Go-outside-home Disability – Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition 

lasting 6 months or more, the person has difficulty going outside the home alone to shop 

or visit a doctor's office. 

 Employment Disability – Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition lasting 6 

months or more, the person has difficulty working at a job or business. 
6 

Most of HUD’s programs, on the other hand, do not distinguish among type of disability, 

although housing providers are to use the following criteria to identify disabled persons when 

reporting to HUD’s tenant-level administrative data systems:2

 A disability as defined in section 223 of the Social Security Act. 

 A physical, mental, or emotional impairment, which is expected to be of long-continued 

and indefinite duration, substantially impedes his or her ability to live independently, and 

is of such a nature that such ability could be improved by more suitable housing 

conditions. 

 A developmental disability as defined in section 102 of the Developmental Disabilities 

Assistance and Bill of Rights Act. 

 Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or any condition that arises from the 

etiologic agent for AIDS.

Since disability is often under-reported, we also include in our definition of the disabled HUDassisted population all those who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a federal income 

supplement designed to meet the needs of low-income disabled persons. We also present data 

using two indicators that provide additional information on the appropriateness of accessibility 

features for a person’s disability needs: (1) public housing residents may request disability 

features, and HUD’s tenant-level data identify whether these features are requested by and 

provided to public housing residents; (2) Several multi-family properties are specifically 

designed to meet the needs of specific types of disabilities experienced by HUD-assisted 

households. We report information describing both of these conditions to gain a better 

understanding of the match between disabled household needs and the accessibility 

characteristics of HUD units. 

Data and Research Methods 

Our analyses in this report consist primarily of various descriptive statistics for disabled 

households both within the U.S. at large and for U.S. households receiving HUD assistance. 

Where possible, we emphasize comparisons between these two groups. For all households, we 

present information for the U.S., for each Census region, and for central, outlying, and rural 

counties.3

 Each table primarily presents information for either (1) the number of disabled 

persons per household, or (2) the number/percent of households containing disabled persons, 

depending on which is more appropriate. At the end of the report, we also present various 

 

2

 The HUD tenant-level data utilized for this project include data reported on the HUD-50058 form (completed by 

PHAs for each assisted household participating in PHA-administered programs as reported in the Public and Indian 

Housing Information Center (PIC) data) and HUD-50059 form (completed by private housing providers for assisted 

households participating in HUD Office of Housing-administered “multifamily” programs as reported in the Tenant 

Rental Assistance Certification System (TRACS) data). 

3

 Throughout the report, “central counties” refer to all counties within 2013 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) 

that contain the largest portion of the CBSA’s urbanized area; “outlying” counties include all other counties within 

the CBSA; and “rural” counties include counties outside of 2013 CBSAs.
7 

measures of the supply and demand for disabled housing units, which we describe in sections to 

follow. Statistics presented for HUD-assisted households are further disaggregated by program 

type and PHA size. 

Data sources for statistics presented to describe disabled households in the U.S. include the most 

recently available American Community Survey (ACS) 2009-2013 5-year sample and the most 

recently available HUD Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) sample (2008-

2010 3-year sample and 2006-2010 5-year sample, depending on the availability of the data 

being examined). The data used to describe HUD-assisted households living in the U.S. are 

constructed from HUD administrative databases, including HUD’s 2013 longitudinal household 

and member files (PIC and TRACS) and the Integrated Real Estate Management System 

(iREMs) multifamily property database. We match the household-level files to iREMS to 

characterize the units and properties where disabled persons reside. 

Prevalence of Disabilities in the U.S. and in HUD Programs 

Research Question: In HUD housing programs and the broader population, what are the 

prevalence and characteristics of households containing one or more persons with disabilities, 

by type of disability and geographic unit? 

We begin with an examination of the prevalence of disability among all U.S. households, using 

data from the 2009-2013 ACS. Table 1 displays the number of disabled persons per 1000 

households by sex and age category. Table 1 and the following tables also display the total 

number of HUD-assisted units. We present the information for the U.S.; all major Census 

regions; and for central counties, outlying counties and rural counties. 

In the U.S. population at large, there are roughly 322 disabled persons per 1000 households.4The 

ratio of disabled persons to households varies somewhat by Census region, with the highest 

number found in the South and the lowest in the Northeast. Comparing central, outlying and 

rural counties, we find that the ratio is highest in rural areas and lowest in more urban, central 

counties. 

Table 1 shows that of the 322 disabled persons per 1000 households, 167 are female and 154 are 

male. Breaking down the results by age in addition to sex reveals that below age 18, more of the 

disabled individuals are male rather than female (16 versus 10); for ages 18–64, male and female 

shares are equal (84 versus 84); and above age 65, a greater share are female (54 males versus 74 

females). As before, disabled persons of both sexes are more commonly found among 

households in the South and in rural areas.

Ratios of disabled persons per 1000 households are affected by both the size of the age 

subgroups and the prevalence of disabilities among individuals of those subgroups. Senior 

individuals are most likely to have a disability, yet the working-age population (age 18-64) 

 

4

 Limitations of the data make it difficult to estimate the proportion of households that contain at least one 

disabled person without double-counting. Tables 3 and 4 indicate the proportion of households having individuals 

with specific disabilities. 
8 

accounts for 168 of the 322 disabled persons per 1000 households. Seniors are next with 128 

disabled persons, and children account for a much smaller share, 26 disabled persons. This 

pattern holds for all geographic areas. For all age groups regardless of sex, the ratio of disabled 

persons to households is highest in the South and in rural areas, although less variable across 

regions compared with the household population at large. 

Table 1: Disabled persons per 1,000 occupied housing units by sex and age category

Table 2 displays estimates of disabled and non-disabled persons per 1,000 households by age and 

poverty status. Non-poor households contribute the majority, 249, of the 320 disabled individuals 

per 1,000 households. Yet disability is more prevalent among the poor: 17.6 percent of 

individuals in poor households are disabled, compared with only 11.2 percent of individuals in 

non-poor households. The primary reason that non-poor households contribute most disabled 

individuals is that non-poor households represent 84.6 percent of the population. In addition, the 

disabled poor population includes a larger number of elderly disabled persons living in singleperson households. In fact, we find that 51.5 percent of elderly persons in poor households have 

disabilities, compared with only 35.0 percent of elderly persons in non-poor households. 

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

Total Disabled 322 300 309 349 305 309 367 435 

Below Age 18 26 24 26 28 23 25 30 29 

Age 18-64 168 150 162 186 157 161 197 226 

Age 65+ 128 125 121 135 125 123 140 179 

Total Non-Disabled 2,329 2,309 2,229 2,300 2,497 2,353 2,291 2,057 

Below Age 18 612 556 586 619 674 616 623 550 

Age 18-64 1,494 1,511 1,423 1,464 1,604 1,517 1,439 1,249 

Age 65+ 223 242 221 217 219 220 229 258 

Disabled Males 154 139 150 167 149 147 181 221 

Below Age 18 16 15 16 17 15 16 19 18 

Age 18-64 84 74 82 92 80 80 100 118 

Age 65+ 54 50 52 57 54 51 63 84 

Non-Disabled Males 1,140 1,124 1,094 1,118 1,236 1,151 1,125 1,011 

Below Age 18 310 281 296 313 342 312 315 279 

Age 18-64 731 736 700 708 795 741 705 616 

Age 65+ 99 107 97 97 100 98 104 116 

Disabled Females 167 161 159 182 157 163 185 214 

Below Age 18 10 9 9 11 9 9 11 11 

Age 18-64 84 77 80 94 77 81 97 108 

Age 65+ 74 75 69 78 71 72 77 95 

Non-Disabled Females 1,189 1,185 1,135 1,182 1,260 1,202 1,167 1,046 

Below Age 18 302 275 290 306 332 304 307 271 

Age 18-64 764 775 722 756 810 776 734 633 

Age 65+ 123 136 123 120 119 122 125 142 

4,619 1,240 970 1,488 801 4,179 203 217

 Total HUD assisted 

units (thousands) 

Source: American Community Survey, 5-year sample, 2009-2013; HUD longitudinal data from the TRACS system 

and public housing databases (form 50058 and the MTW program), 2013, household and member files.
9 

Table 2: Disabled and nondisabled persons per 1000 occupied housing units by age, poverty status, and 

geography5

 

5

 The totals in this table represent persons for whom poverty information is available and do not precisely match 

the totals from Table 1. 

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

2,620 2,568 2,505 2,621 2,779 2,630 2,631 2,471 

320 298 308 348 304 308 365 434 

In Poverty 71 64 68 81 63 68 77 109 

Not In Poverty 249 234 240 267 241 240 289 325 

2,300 2,270 2,197 2,274 2,474 2,322 2,266 2,037 

In Poverty 332 270 297 363 368 335 290 345 

Not In Poverty 1,968 2,000 1,900 1,910 2,106 1,987 1,975 1,692 

629 573 602 639 687 633 643 569 

25 24 25 27 23 25 29 29 

In Poverty 8 7 8 10 7 8 9 11 

Not In Poverty 17 16 17 18 16 17 20 17 

604 549 577 611 665 608 614 541 

In Poverty 128 97 114 144 139 128 116 140 

Not In Poverty 477 452 463 467 526 480 499 401 

1,640 1,627 1,561 1,631 1,747 1,655 1,618 1,464 

167 149 161 186 156 160 196 226 

In Poverty 46 41 46 52 41 44 50 70 

Not In Poverty 121 108 115 133 116 116 146 156 

1,473 1,478 1,399 1,446 1,591 1,495 1,422 1,238 

In Poverty 189 156 170 202 213 191 160 182 

Not In Poverty 1,285 1,323 1,230 1,244 1,378 1,303 1,263 1,056 

351 368 342 352 344 343 369 437 

128 125 121 135 125 123 140 179 

In Poverty 17 16 14 19 15 16 17 28 

Not In Poverty 111 109 107 116 110 107 123 152 

223 242 221 217 219 220 229 258 

In Poverty 16 17 14 18 16 16 15 23 

Not In Poverty 206 225 207 199 203 204 214 236 

4,619 1,240 970 1,488 801 4,179 203 217

 Total HUD assisted units 

(thousands) 

Source: American Community Survey, 5-year sample, 2009-2013; HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, 

household and member files

Total Non-Disabled Below Age 

18

Total Non-Disabled Age 65 

And Above

Total Disabled Age 65 And 

Above

Total Non-Disabled Age 18-64

Total Disabled Age 18-64

Total Age 18-64

Total Disabled Below Age 18

Total Below Age 18

Total

Total Disabled

Total Non-Disabled

Total Age 65 And Above
10 

Tables 3 and 4 use CHAS data to examine the number and proportion of households that include 

persons with specific types of disabilities by tenure status and household income as a percent of 

HUD-Adjusted Median Family Income (HAMFI). HUD categorizes incomes up to 30 percent of 

HAMFI as extremely low income, up to 50 percent of HAMFI as very low income, up to 80 

percent of HAMFI as low-income, and greater than 80 percent of HAMFI as moderate income or 

higher. Totals are displayed in Table 3, and percentages of households within each row are 

displayed in Table 4. Because the total number of households varies for each category, we focus 

our interpretation on the percentages displayed in Table 4. 

For each disability type, the prevalence of disability is highest among households with the lowest 

incomes (Table 4). Generally, the percentage of households with hearing or vision impairments 

is largest in the South and in rural areas, but some differences emerge when we consider 

different types of disability. Among all households, the percentage of households with members 

that experience cognitive and self-care or independent living limitations is highest in the South. 

Interestingly, the geographic distribution of all types of disabilities varies when we consider 

renter households only. For these households, all types of disability are more prevalent in the 

Midwest than in other Census regions. 

Table 3: Number of households with at least one disabled person by type of disability, tenure status, and 

household income as a percent of HAMFI (in thousands)

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

Tenure: All 114,597 20,964 25,968 42,377 25,288 99,954 7,112 3,824

Hearing or vision impairment 12,680 2,099 2,784 5,077 2,720 10,594 901 626

≤ 30% HAMFI 2,143 446 439 811 447 1,849 135 92

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 2,099 361 473 839 426 1,734 148 112

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 2,489 385 583 991 530 2,050 184 134

> 80% HAMFI 5,949 907 1,289 2,435 1,317 4,961 434 288

Ambulatory limitation 16,241 2,803 3,506 6,709 3,224 13,644 1,140 793

≤ 30% HAMFI 3,492 763 727 1,319 683 3,004 219 145

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 2,986 520 669 1,233 564 2,466 211 162

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 3,192 498 738 1,330 626 2,641 233 173

> 80% HAMFI 6,571 1,021 1,372 2,827 1,351 5,533 477 315

Cognitive limitation 9,605 1,676 2,124 3,866 1,940 8,172 669 445

≤ 30% HAMFI 2,461 528 545 901 486 2,144 152 101

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 1,864 313 414 766 371 1,567 128 94

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 1,070 162 263 463 182 859 85 66

> 80% HAMFI 4,211 673 902 1,735 901 3,602 304 183

12,148 2,172 2,626 4,853 2,497 10,380 818 549

≤ 30% HAMFI 2,708 592 572 988 555 2,357 166 104

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 2,222 395 495 898 434 1,864 151 113

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 2,356 378 540 959 479 1,982 167 119

> 80% HAMFI 4,862 807 1,019 2,008 1,028 4,176 334 213

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

Self-care or independent living 

limitation

Source: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) dataset, 3-year sample, 2008-2010; HUD longitudinal data 

from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files
11 

Table 3: Number of households with at least one disabled person by type of disability, tenure status, and 

household income as a percent of HAMFI (in thousands) (continued)

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

Tenure: Renters 39,039 7,678 7,747 13,759 9,855 35,420 1,808 938

Hearing or vision impairment 3,852 744 793 1,399 916 3,372 215 140

≤ 30% HAMFI 1,299 306 268 439 286 1,157 66 43

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 879 165 196 321 198 752 52 37

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 737 125 161 273 179 640 43 30

> 80% HAMFI 936 149 169 366 253 823 54 31

Ambulatory limitation 5,667 1,176 1,208 2,045 1,238 4,958 312 209

≤ 30% HAMFI 2,220 552 471 743 454 1,965 116 73

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 1,318 256 301 483 278 1,128 77 57

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 1,004 176 224 377 228 872 57 41

> 80% HAMFI 1,125 192 213 441 279 994 62 38

Cognitive limitation 4,266 839 932 1,527 968 3,758 238 153

≤ 30% HAMFI 1,728 411 391 570 356 1,540 92 58

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 959 174 218 355 213 829 55 39

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 761 126 165 286 183 665 44 29

> 80% HAMFI 818 128 158 317 216 724 48 27

4,321 889 929 1,503 1,000 3,813 230 148

≤ 30% HAMFI 1,751 428 379 562 382 1,561 89 53

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 1,001 194 227 356 224 864 57 40

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 753 131 167 273 182 660 40 29

> 80% HAMFI 817 137 156 311 212 728 43 27

Tenure: Owners 75,558 13,286 18,220 28,618 15,434 64,534 5,304 2,885

Hearing or vision impairment 8,828 1,355 1,991 3,677 1,804 7,222 686 486

≤ 30% HAMFI 844 140 171 372 161 691 69 49

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 1,219 196 277 518 229 982 96 75

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 1,752 260 423 718 351 1,411 141 104

> 80% HAMFI 5,013 759 1,121 2,069 1,064 4,138 380 258

Ambulatory limitation 10,574 1,626 2,297 4,664 1,986 8,685 828 585

≤ 30% HAMFI 1,271 211 256 576 229 1,039 103 72

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 1,667 263 368 749 286 1,338 133 105

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 2,188 322 514 953 399 1,769 176 132

> 80% HAMFI 5,447 829 1,159 2,387 1,072 4,539 415 277

Cognitive limitation 5,339 838 1,192 2,338 971 4,414 430 292

≤ 30% HAMFI 733 117 153 331 130 605 60 43

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 904 139 197 411 158 738 73 55

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 309 36 98 177 -2 193 41 38

> 80% HAMFI 3,392 545 744 1,419 685 2,878 256 156

7,827 1,283 1,697 3,350 1,498 6,567 588 401

≤ 30% HAMFI 957 164 193 426 174 795 77 52

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 1,221 201 268 542 210 1,001 94 73

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 1,604 247 373 685 298 1,322 127 90

> 80% HAMFI 4,045 670 863 1,696 816 3,448 290 186

4,619 1,240 970 1,488 801 4,179 203 217

Source: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) dataset, 3-year sample, 2008-2010; HUD longitudinal data 

from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files

 Total HUD assisted units 

(thousands) 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

Self-care or independent living 

limitation

Self-care or independent living 

limitation
12 

Table 4: Percentage of households with at least one disabled person by type of disability, tenure status, 

and household income as a percent of HAMFI

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

Tenure: All

Hearing or vision impairment 11.1 10.0 10.7 12.0 10.8 10.6 12.8 16.3

≤ 30% HAMFI 15.0 14.9 14.4 15.8 14.2 14.5 17.3 20.0

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 15.8 14.6 16.1 17.0 14.4 15.1 18.4 22.2

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 13.3 11.9 13.2 14.4 12.5 12.6 15.7 19.5

> 80% HAMFI 8.8 7.4 8.3 9.7 8.9 8.4 10.1 13.2

Ambulatory limitation 14.2 13.4 13.5 15.9 12.8 13.7 16.2 20.7

≤ 30% HAMFI 24.4 25.6 23.9 25.7 21.6 23.6 28.0 31.6

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 22.4 21.0 22.8 24.9 19.1 21.4 26.3 32.1

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 17.0 15.5 16.6 19.3 14.8 16.3 19.8 25.1

> 80% HAMFI 9.7 8.3 8.8 11.2 9.1 9.3 11.1 14.4

Cognitive limitation 8.4 8.0 8.2 9.2 7.7 8.2 9.5 11.6

≤ 30% HAMFI 17.2 17.7 17.9 17.6 15.4 16.9 19.4 22.1

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 14.0 12.7 14.1 15.5 12.5 13.6 16.0 18.7

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 5.7 5.0 5.9 6.7 4.3 5.3 7.2 9.7

> 80% HAMFI 6.2 5.5 5.8 6.9 6.1 6.1 7.1 8.4

10.6 10.4 10.1 11.5 9.9 10.4 11.6 14.3

≤ 30% HAMFI 18.9 19.8 18.8 19.3 17.6 18.5 21.2 22.8

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 16.7 16.0 16.9 18.2 14.7 16.2 18.8 22.4

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 12.6 11.7 12.2 13.9 11.3 12.2 14.2 17.3

> 80% HAMFI 7.2 6.6 6.6 8.0 6.9 7.1 7.8 9.8

Tenure: Renters

Hearing or vision impairment 10.1 9.9 10.5 10.4 9.5 9.7 12.3 15.2

≤ 30% HAMFI 13.7 14.4 13.3 13.9 13.1 13.4 15.2 18.2

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 12.8 12.4 13.5 13.3 11.6 12.2 15.6 19.4

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 9.4 8.9 9.8 9.8 8.9 9.0 11.4 15.2

> 80% HAMFI 6.7 5.5 6.9 7.2 6.8 6.5 8.9 10.1

Ambulatory limitation 14.9 15.6 15.9 15.2 12.9 14.3 17.8 22.6

≤ 30% HAMFI 23.4 25.9 23.3 23.5 20.8 22.7 26.8 31.2

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 19.1 19.3 20.7 20.1 16.3 18.3 23.0 29.6

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 12.8 12.5 13.6 13.5 11.3 12.3 15.1 20.9

> 80% HAMFI 8.1 7.1 8.7 8.7 7.5 7.8 10.2 12.6

Cognitive limitation 11.2 11.1 12.3 11.4 10.1 10.9 13.6 16.5

≤ 30% HAMFI 18.2 19.3 19.3 18.0 16.3 17.8 21.1 24.7

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 13.9 13.1 15.0 14.7 12.5 13.4 16.4 20.6

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 9.7 9.0 10.0 10.3 9.1 9.4 11.6 14.6

> 80% HAMFI 5.9 4.8 6.4 6.3 5.8 5.7 7.9 8.9

11.3 11.8 12.3 11.2 10.4 11.0 13.1 16.1

≤ 30% HAMFI 18.4 20.1 18.7 17.8 17.5 18.0 20.6 22.5

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 14.5 14.6 15.6 14.8 13.2 14.0 17.1 20.8

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 9.6 9.3 10.1 9.8 9.0 9.3 10.6 14.8

> 80% HAMFI 5.9 5.1 6.4 6.2 5.7 5.7 7.1 8.9

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

Self-care or independent living 

limitation

Self-care or independent living 

limitation

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

Source: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) dataset, 3-year sample, 2008-2010; CHAS, 5-

year sample, 2006-2010; HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files
13 

Table 4: Percentage of households with at least one disabled person by type of disability, tenure status, 

and household income as a percent of HAMFI (continued)

Turning now to HUD-assisted households, Table 5 displays the number of disabled persons per 

1,000 HUD-assisted units, broken down by sex, age, geographic area, Public Housing Agency 

(PHA) size, and HUD program type. In contrast to the results for all U.S. households, there are 

more disabled persons per HUD-assisted household in the West and in central counties. Large 

PHAs are also likely to serve larger numbers of disabled persons. Interestingly, regional 

variations fluctuate with the age of disabled household members, with greater ratios of young 

disabled household members (age <18) found in the South, and greater ratios of working-aged 

and elderly disabled household members found in the West. We also find greater ratios of 

working-aged disabled persons in rural counties. 

There are many more disabled females per 1,000 HUD-assisted households than there are 

disabled males. This partly reflects the prevalence of female-headed households in the larger 

population of HUD-assisted households (77 percent of HUD-assisted households, according to 

the 2013 Picture of Subsidized Households). Ratios of disabled females are greater in outlying 

counties, particularly among those of working age. For both males and females, ratios of 

disabled children and disabled elderly persons are greater in the South. 

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

Tenure: Owners

Hearing or vision impairment 11.6 10.1 10.8 12.8 11.6 11.1 12.9 16.7

≤ 30% HAMFI 17.5 16.4 16.8 18.9 16.6 17.0 19.9 21.9

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 19.0 17.1 18.7 20.4 18.3 18.4 20.5 24.0

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 16.0 14.3 15.2 17.5 15.8 15.5 17.7 21.3

> 80% HAMFI 9.3 7.9 8.6 10.3 9.5 8.9 10.3 13.7

Ambulatory limitation 13.9 12.2 12.5 16.2 12.7 13.4 15.6 20.1

≤ 30% HAMFI 26.4 24.6 25.1 29.2 23.6 25.6 29.4 32.1

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 26.0 23.0 24.8 29.6 22.8 25.1 28.6 33.7

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 20.0 17.7 18.5 23.2 18.0 19.4 22.0 26.8

> 80% HAMFI 10.1 8.7 8.8 11.9 9.6 9.8 11.3 14.7

Cognitive limitation 7.0 6.3 6.5 8.1 6.2 6.8 8.1 10.0

≤ 30% HAMFI 15.2 13.7 15.0 16.8 13.4 14.9 17.2 19.5

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 14.1 12.1 13.3 16.2 12.6 13.9 15.7 17.5

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 2.8 2.0 3.5 4.3 -0.1 2.1 5.2 7.7

> 80% HAMFI 6.3 5.7 5.7 7.0 6.1 6.2 6.9 8.3

10.3 9.6 9.2 11.7 9.6 10.1 11.1 13.8

≤ 30% HAMFI 19.9 19.1 19.0 21.7 17.9 19.6 22.1 23.2

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 19.0 17.6 18.1 21.4 16.8 18.8 20.1 23.4

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 14.7 13.6 13.4 16.7 13.4 14.5 15.9 18.2

> 80% HAMFI 7.5 7.0 6.6 8.4 7.3 7.4 7.9 9.9

4,619 1,240 970 1,488 801 4,179 203 217

By 

relative 

income 

 Total HUD assisted units 

(thousands) 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

Source: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) dataset, 3-year sample, 2008-2010; CHAS, 5-

year sample, 2006-2010; HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files

By 

relative 

income 

Self-care or independent living 

limitation
14 

Table 5: Number of disabled members per 1000 HUD-assisted units by sex and age 

Table 5: Number of disabled members per 1000 HUD-assisted units by sex and age (continued) 

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

Small 

PHAs

Medium 

PHAs

Large 

PHAs

407 434 385 387 465 408 403 404 401 452 509 

Below Age 18 35 39 29 41 29 36 25 19 15 24 50 

Age 18-64 286 289 299 275 311 284 308 313 296 336 332 

Age 65 and above 86 106 57 71 126 87 69 73 89 91 126 

153 163 150 140 183 154 144 151 152 164 187 

Below Age 18 23 26 19 27 18 24 17 12 10 15 33 

Age 18-64 105 106 114 94 123 105 109 118 114 123 117 

Age 65 and above 25 31 17 19 41 26 18 21 28 26 37 

254 272 236 248 282 254 259 253 249 288 322 

Below Age 18 12 13 10 14 10 13 9 7 6 9 17 

Age 18-64 181 183 185 181 188 180 199 194 182 213 215 

Age 65 and above 60 75 40 52 85 61 51 52 61 65 89 

4,619 1,240 970 1,488 801 4,179 203 217 60 316 2,854 

 Total HUD assisted 

units (thousands) 

Sources: HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files

Total disabled persons

Total disabled males

Total disabled females

Public 

Housing

Housing Choice 

Vouchers: TenantBased and All Other

Housing Choice 

Vouchers: 

"Designated"

Housing Choice 

Vouchers: 

Mainstream

Housing Choice 

Vouchers: 

Project-Based

Housing Choice 

Vouchers: 

Homeownership

428 524 1,077 1,113 491 552 

Below Age 18 29 58 39 27 23 63 

Age 18-64 280 343 950 870 325 410 

Age 65 and above 120 123 88 216 143 78 

169 184 388 406 220 200 

Below Age 18 19 38 25 16 14 39 

Age 18-64 111 112 337 328 153 138 

Age 65 and above 40 33 26 62 53 24 

259 340 689 707 271 352 

Below Age 18 10 20 14 11 9 24 

Age 18-64 169 230 614 543 172 273 

Age 65 and above 80 90 62 154 90 55 

1,072 2,019 43 9 55 10 Total HUD assisted 

units (thousands) 

Sources: HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files

Total disabled persons

Total disabled males

Total disabled females
15 

Table 5: Number of disabled members per 1000 HUD-assisted units by sex and age (continued) 

When we examine the prevalence of disabled persons by HUD program, we find that it is highest 

in the mainstream voucher program, which is somewhat expected given that this program is 

specifically targeted to households with disabled persons. Considering programs not targeted to 

the needs of the disabled, the prevalence of disabled persons is highest in the Housing Choice 

Voucher program. Since there are no special accommodations to ensure that these households 

receive necessary disability accommodations, this is potentially a source of concern. These 

results generally hold true regardless of the age or sex of disabled persons. 

Table 6 displays the number of households containing at least one disabled person per 1000 

HUD-assisted units by income as a percent of HAMFI. As might be expected, the prevalence of 

disability is highest for the lowest income households, regardless of geographic location or PHA 

size. Disabled households with the lowest incomes, which are especially likely to include nonwage sources of income, are most prevalent in Northeastern and rural counties, while those with 

higher incomes are more prevalent in outlying Western counties and in medium-sized PHAs. 

Interestingly, while the prevalence of disability in the Section 811 program is higher for higher 

income households, for all other HUD programs, disabled households are more prevalent among 

lower income categories. Again, the Housing Choice Voucher program serves a larger proportion 

of disabled persons than other HUD programs not geared towards the needs of the disabled, 

regardless of income. 

All Housing 

Choice 

Voucher 

Programs

Section 8 

Moderate 

Rehabilitation Section 202 Section 811 Section 236

Multifamily 

Assisted Programs 

Breaking Out 

Section 8

All 

Multifamily 

Programs

537 500 109 843 158 193 186 

Below Age 18 56 15 0 2 11 8 7 

Age 18-64 357 370 108 841 146 185 180 

Age 65 and above 123 114 0 1 0 0 0 

190 277 54 464 64 80 82 

Below Age 18 37 10 0 1 7 5 4 

Age 18-64 119 211 54 463 57 75 77 

Age 65 and above 34 55 0 0 0 0 0 

347 223 54 379 94 113 105 

Below Age 18 20 5 0 1 4 3 2 

Age 18-64 238 159 54 378 90 110 102 

Age 65 and above 89 59 0 0 0 0 0 

2136 34 271 31 164 911 1377 

Sources: HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files

Total disabled persons

Total disabled males

Total disabled females

 Total HUD assisted 

units (thousands) 
16 

Table 6: Number of HUD-assisted households containing at least one disabled person per 1000 HUDassisted units, by household income (as a percent of HAMFI) 

Table 6: Number of HUD-assisted households containing at least one disabled person per 1000 HUDassisted units, by household income (as a percent of HAMFI) (continued) 

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

Small 

PHAs

Medium 

PHAs

Large 

PHAs

Total 416.75 433.44 411.34 405.70 457.76 416.25 424.11 431.92 398.02 447.72 472.54

Household 

income ≤30% 

HAMFI

440.63 478.47 436.87 418.57 472.45 440.47 440.25 453.00 449.96 469.59 495.55

Household 

income <30%, 

≤ 50% HAMFI

368.91 334.00 354.61 388.45 422.30 364.91 395.87 411.02 363.32 433.29 435.16

Household 

income >50%, 

≤80% HAMFI

261.54 222.36 250.52 298.65 305.58 258.45 300.12 287.64 254.76 314.05 287.68

Household 

income ≥80% 

HAMFI

201.83 174.00 199.10 250.84 247.32 197.68 255.71 233.41 195.63 247.37 205.81

 Total HUD 

assisted units 

(thousands) 

 4,619 1,240 970 1,488 801 4,179 203 217 60 316 2,854 

Sources: HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files

Public 

Housing

Housing Choice 

Vouchers: TenantBased and All Other

Housing Choice 

Vouchers: 

"Designated"

Housing Choice 

Vouchers: 

Mainstream

Housing Choice 

Vouchers: 

Project-Based

Housing Choice 

Vouchers: 

Homeownership

Total 412.01 484.19 980.58 999.55 483.50 484.92 

Household 

income ≤30% 

HAMFI

440.21 503.82 982.07 999.44 514.19 643.44 

Household 

income <30%, 

≤ 50% HAMFI

382.38 446.71 975.94 1000.00 392.68 437.59 

Household 

income >50%, 

≤80% HAMFI

270.09 304.73 948.07 1000.00 289.44 250.43 

Household 

income ≥80% 

HAMFI

204.12 238.48 925.93 1000.00 195.12 224.49 

 Total HUD 

assisted units 

(thousands) 

 1,072 2,019 43 9 55 10 

Sources: HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files
17 

Table 6: Number of HUD-assisted households containing at least one disabled person per 1000 HUDassisted units, by household income (as a percent of HAMFI) (continued) 

Availability of Assisted HUD Units in Relation to Need 

Research Question: What is the availability of assisted units that the public housing authority or 

owner/managing agent has designated as accessible, in relation to the need at different 

geographic levels? 

Table 7 presents various statistics for those participating in the public housing program. Within 

this program, the number of disabled persons per 1000 public housing units is highest in central 

Northeastern counties managed by large PHAs. Roughly 41 percent of public housing units 

contain at least one disabled person, and this percentage varies little across geographic area. The 

third row from the bottom presents the percentage of households with at least one disabled 

person which requested disability features and ultimately received them in their public housing 

unit. Only 30 percent of households with at least one disabled person requesting such amenities 

actually received them. This percentage is highest in the West, where 77 percent of those 

requesting disability features received them, and lowest in the South, where only 11 percent of 

those requesting disability features received them. Central counties and large PHAs are the most 

successful in matching disabled households with their requested accommodations. Looking at the 

second to last row in Table 7, we find that a surprisingly low percentage (3 percent) of disabled 

households living in public housing were actually reported as receiving units with accessibility 

features, regardless of whether accessible units were requested. The highest percentages are in 

outlying Western counties and in large PHAs. 

All Housing 

Choice Voucher 

Programs

Section 8 

Moderate 

Rehabilitation

Section 

202

Section 

811

Section 

236

Multifamily Assisted 

Programs Breaking Out 

Section 8

All 

Multifamily 

Programs

Total 496.39 491.50 204.46 986.30 255.24 305.85 295.02 

Household 

income ≤30% 

HAMFI

517.03 502.03 233.06 986.26 277.97 324.26 318.55 

Household 

income <30%, 

≤ 50% HAMFI

456.52 408.76 143.35 986.96 216.08 257.98 236.34 

Household 

income >50%, 

≤80% HAMFI

309.43 234.50 142.62 981.57 125.61 182.02 171.64 

Household 

income ≥80% 

HAMFI

242.12 277.78 148.33 1,000.00 76.74 118.69 110.18 

 Total HUD 

assisted units 

(thousands) 

2,136 34 271 31 1640 911 1,377 

Sources: HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files
18 

Table 7: Summary statistics, among HUD-assisted households in public housing

Table 8 present various statistics for those participating in HUD’s multifamily programs. Since 

HUD multifamily program participants were not asked whether they have requested disability 

features, we do not present this information, but we do present the percent of households residing 

in properties with units designated for the disabled, by multifamily program. In contrast to the 

public housing program, we find greater ratios of disabled multifamily program participants per 

1,000 units in Midwestern and rural counties. Ratios of disabled persons are greater in units 

designated for the chronically mentally ill and less in units designated for the elderly and 

disabled. Breaking multifamily programs down by various HUD program categories, we find 

that the average size of the disabled population is highest among multifamily assisted programs 

specifically designed to serve the needs of the disabled. The Section 811 program serves the 

largest number of disabled persons per unit. Approximately 99 percent of those participating in 

the Section 811 program live in households with at least one disabled person. In the Section 202 

and 811 programs, the largest shares of households living in properties with units designated 

exclusively for the disabled are indeed disabled, while in other multifamily assisted programs, 

properties with units designated for the chronically mentally ill house the largest share of 

households with at least one disabled person. 

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

Small 

PHAs

Medium 

PHAs

Large 

PHAs

Number of disabled persons per 

1000 public housing households 449 496 459 436 482 455 417 407 385 422 458 

 Percent of households with at 

least one disabled person 41.2 44.1 43.4 40.7 44.3 41.6 39.2 38.4 36.4 39.8 41.8 

Percent of households, among 

those which requested disability 

features, with at least one 

disabled person

43.6 61.0 48.3 37.8 71.8 45.5 37.2 35.7 38.8 36.6 46.9 

Percent of households, among 

those which received disability 

features, with at least one 

disabled person

60.3 63.0 61.6 61.7 92.1 60.9 50.5 59.3 70.3 52.9 61.3 

Percent of households, among 

those 1) with at least one 

disabled person and 2) which 

requested disability features, 

which ultimately received them

30.3 53.8 39.5 11.4 76.6 33.4 17.1 14.5 24.8 17.1 35.2 

Percent of households, among 

those 1) with no disabled 

persons and 2) which requested 

disability features, which 

ultimately received them

15.4 49.4 23.0 4.3 16.8 17.9 9.9 5.5 6.7 8.8 19.7 

Percent of households, among 

those with at least one disabled 

person, which received housing 

units with disability features

3.4 3.8 2.2 2.2 6.5 3.4 3.6 2.4 2.6 3.0 3.5 

 Total HUD-assisted, public 

housing units (thousands) 1,072 361 199 370 86 944 48 75 47 160 854 

Sources: HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files
19 

Table 8: Multifamily housing statistics

Table 8: Multifamily housing statistics (continued) 

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

Small 

PHAs

Medium 

PHAs

Large 

PHAs

Number of disabled 

persons per 1000 

multifamily units

303 310 329 302 267 297 334 380 1000 221 316 

Percent of multifamily 

households with at least 

one disabled person

30 30 32 30 26 29 33 37 100 22 31 

the elderly and disabled 36 31 41 40 32 35 41 46 100 7 58 

the disabled exclusively 87 75 85 94 90 87 91 91 53 

the chronically mentally 

ill 96 98 97 94 98 96 94 98 75 

the physically disabled 70 53 72 68 93 69 90 65 75 

the developmentally 

disabled 91 82 99 90 97 92 98 83 50 

persons with HIV 86 100 98 70 94 86 50 

 Total HUD-assisted, 

multifamily units 

(thousands) 

 1,298 324 355 404 192 1,169 62 65 0 0 3 

Percent of households with at least one disabled person, among those residing in multifamily housing units designed for...

Sources: HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files; iREMs database

Section 

202

Section 

811

Section 

236

Multifamily assisted programs 

breaking out Section 8

Housing Choice Vouchers: 

Project-Based

Number of disabled 

persons per 1000 

multifamily units

219 999 264 313 314 

Percent of multifamily 

households with at least 

one disabled person

22 99 26 31 31 

the elderly and disabled 26 98 42 39 56 

the disabled exclusively 90 99 30 66 53 

the chronically mentally 

ill 85 98 83 75 

the physically disabled 34 98 44 45 75 

the developmentally 

disabled 79 99 75 50 

persons with HIV 97 48 50 

 Total HUD-assisted, 

multifamily units 

(thousands) 

 242 25 157 870 4 

Sources: HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files; iREMs database

Percent of households with at least one disabled person, among those residing in multifamily housing units designed for...
20 

Supply of and Demand for Accessible Assisted Units 

Table 9 presents various indicators of the supply and demand for accessible HUD-assisted units. 

Within the tenant-based voucher, multifamily, and public housing programs, we present the 

percent of disabled HUD-assistance recipients that live in units specifically designated for the 

disabled by geography to identify the extent to which the needs of the disabled population are 

being met in these HUD programs.6

The bottom rows display, by income, the total and percent of 

households with at least one disabled person, the total and percent of households with at least 

one disabled person minus those receiving HUD assistance, and the percent of the disabled 

population not receiving HUD assistance. These rows are further provided for two groups: the 

first for all households, and the second for all rental households. The final row gives an estimate 

of the percent of households with disabled persons who would qualify for HUD assistance based 

on income alone but who do not receive any HUD assistance. 

We find that in the tenant-based voucher program, less than five percent of disabled households 

receive assistance from a tenant-based program specifically targeted to the needs of the disabled. 

This percentage varies little by geography. This is a source of concern, because such vouchers do 

not come with supportive services or other accommodations to meet the needs of the disabled 

population. Furthermore, upon turnover, these vouchers may not be made available to other 

disabled households. In public housing, the percentage is somewhat higher, but still quite low (8 

percent). In Western counties, more than 10 percent of disabled persons live in public housing 

units with accessibility features. The multifamily program has the highest percent of disabled 

households living in properties with units designated for the disabled (48 percent). This 

percentage is highest in the Midwest and in rural counties. Turning to the bottom rows in Table 

9, we find that a substantial percentage of the disabled population does not receive HUD 

assistance. Even among those with extremely low incomes (<30% of HAMFI), more than 70 

percent of all households and 50 percent of all renting households in particular do not receive 

HUD assistance. For both groups, this percentage is highest in outlying counties and within the 

South. 

 

6

 These percentages refer to the proportion (prevalence) living in designated units for given level of geography 

and not the share of such households found in each geography. 
21 

Table 9: Summary of supply and demand for affordable housing among disabled households

1,916 534 399 603 366 1,739 86 90 

≤ 30% HAMFI 1,518 436 316 458 299 1,390 66 62

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 339 80 73 123 59 298 17 24

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 53 15 9 20 8 47 2 4

> 80% HAMFI 6 3 1 2 1 5 0 1

27,560 4,856 6,197 10,841 5,666 22,851 1,834 1,287 

≤ 30% HAMFI 5,123 1,147 1,108 1,874 996 4,318 306 217

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 4,423 810 997 1,761 855 3,596 297 231

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 5,131 858 1,207 2,024 1,042 4,191 354 260

> 80% HAMFI 12,883 2,041 2,887 5,182 2,774 10,746 878 579

24.1 23.2 23.9 25.7 22.5 23.2 26.4 33.6 

≤ 30% HAMFI 35.8 38.4 36.4 36.5 31.5 34.6 40.2 47.4

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 33.2 32.7 33.9 35.6 28.9 31.7 37.7 45.9

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 27.3 26.6 27.2 29.4 24.6 26.1 30.5 37.8

> 80% HAMFI 19.0 16.7 18.6 20.6 18.7 18.3 20.7 26.5

25,644 4,322 5,798 10,238 5,299 21,112 1,748 1,197 

≤ 30% HAMFI 3,605 710 792 1,415 696 2,928 240 155

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 4,084 730 923 1,639 796 3,299 280 208

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 5,077 843 1,197 2,004 1,034 4,144 351 255

> 80% HAMFI 12,877 2,039 2,886 5,180 2,773 10,741 877 579

22.4 20.7 22.3 24.3 21.0 21.4 25.1 31.2 

≤ 30% HAMFI 25.2 23.8 26.0 27.6 22.1 23.5 31.5 33.9

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 30.7 29.5 31.4 33.2 26.9 29.0 35.5 41.2

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 27.0 26.2 27.0 29.1 24.4 25.8 30.3 37.2

> 80% HAMFI 19.0 16.7 18.6 20.6 18.7 18.3 20.6 26.5

93.0 89.0 93.6 94.4 93.5 92.4 95.3 93.0 

≤ 30% HAMFI 70.4 62.0 71.5 75.5 69.9 67.8 78.4 71.6

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 92.3 90.1 92.6 93.0 93.1 91.7 94.2 89.8

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 99.0 98.3 99.2 99.0 99.3 98.9 99.3 98.3

> 80% HAMFI 100.0 99.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 99.9

Percent of total households with at least one 

disabled person (minus disabled households 

receiving HUD assistance)

Percent of total households with at least one 

disabled person

Percent of disabled households not receiving 

HUD assistance

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

By 

relative 

income 

Total HUD assisted households with at least 

one disabled person (1000s)

By 

relative 

income 

Total households with at least one disabled 

person (1000s)

By 

relative 

income 

Total households with at least one disabled 

person (minus disabled households receiving 

HUD assistance) (1000s)

Tenure: All owner- and renter-occupied households
22 

Table 9: Summary of supply and demand for affordable housing among disabled households (continued)

U.S.

Northeast 

Region

Midwest 

Region

South 

Region

West 

Region

Central 

counties

Outlying 

counties

Rural 

counties

8,717 1,827 1,891 3,067 1,932 7,536 467 318 

≤ 30% HAMFI 3,233 816 715 1,046 655 2,824 163 108

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 1,937 388 442 694 413 1,646 109 81

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 1,592 290 354 582 366 1,366 90 61

> 80% HAMFI 1,955 332 380 745 497 1,701 105 67

22.9 24.2 24.9 22.9 20.1 22.0 27.0 34.4 

≤ 30% HAMFI 34.0 38.3 35.3 33.1 30.0 33.1 38.4 46.2

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 28.1 29.2 30.4 28.8 24.2 26.9 32.9 42.5

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 20.3 20.7 21.5 20.9 18.2 19.4 24.2 31.2

> 80% HAMFI 14.1 12.4 15.5 14.7 13.5 13.5 17.4 22.3

6,801 1,293 1,492 2,464 1,566 5,797 381 228 

≤ 30% HAMFI 1,715 380 399 588 356 1,434 97 47

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 1,599 308 369 571 354 1,349 92 58

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 1,539 275 345 562 359 1,319 87 57

> 80% HAMFI 1,949 330 380 743 497 1,695 104 67

17.8 17.1 19.7 18.4 16.3 16.9 22.0 24.7 

≤ 30% HAMFI 18.1 17.9 19.7 18.6 16.3 16.8 22.9 19.9

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 23.2 23.2 25.4 23.7 20.8 22.0 27.7 30.2

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 19.6 19.6 20.9 20.2 17.8 18.7 23.5 29.0

> 80% HAMFI 14.0 12.3 15.4 14.7 13.4 13.5 17.4 22.1

78.0 70.8 78.9 80.3 81.0 76.9 81.6 71.7 

≤ 30% HAMFI 53.1 46.6 55.8 56.2 54.3 50.8 59.5 43.1

> 30%, ≤ 50% HAMFI 82.5 79.3 83.4 82.3 85.8 81.9 84.3 71.1

> 50%, ≤ 80% HAMFI 96.6 94.8 97.4 96.5 97.9 96.6 97.3 93.0

> 80% HAMFI 99.7 99.2 99.8 99.7 99.9 99.7 99.7 99.1

By 

relative 

income 

Sources: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) dataset, 3-year sample, 2008-2010; CHAS, 5-year sample, 

2006-2010; HUD longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files; iREMs database

Percent of total renting households with at 

least one disabled person

By 

relative 

income 

Percent of total renting households with at 

least one disabled person (minus disabled 

households receiving HUD assistance)

By 

relative 

income 

Total renting households with at least one 

disabled person (1000s)

By 

relative 

income 

Total renting households with at least one 

disabled person (minus disabled households 

receiving HUD assistance) (1000s)

Percent of disabled, renting households not 

receiving HUD assistance

By 

relative 

income 

Tenure: Renter-occupied households only
23 

Table 10 presents the same information, broken down by quartiles of poverty rate, median rent, 

and median household income of the counties in which HUD-assisted disabled persons reside. 

Generally, the percent of disabled voucher recipients receiving vouchers designated for the 

disabled is higher in counties with lower poverty rates and higher median rents. The same is true 

for the multifamily assisted program, although counties with moderate median rents house the 

highest percent of disabled persons living in facilities designed for the disabled. The relationship 

is strongest for the public housing program. For these residents, counties with high poverty rates, 

low median rents, and low median incomes house the highest percent of those living in units 

designated for the disabled. Turning to the section of Table 10 inventorying the unassisted 

population among all households, we find that, among those with the lowest income, counties 

with lower median rents and income tend to house a larger population of potentially eligible 

disabled persons that do not receive HUD assistance. 

Table 10: Summary of supply and demand for affordable housing among disabled households, by quartile 

using county level averages (among counties with HUD assistance)

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 

9.4 14.1 17.8 24.3 20.1 17.1 15.9 12.5 23.4 17.5 14.5 10.2 

5.3 5.5 4.5 4.7 4.4 4.3 5.7 5.6 4.5 5.0 4.3 6.2 

53.0 55.7 51.6 46.7 54.1 57.0 51.9 43.6 49.3 53.3 55.8 48.3 

6.0 7.3 6.9 9.4 8.1 8.0 6.4 7.5 9.8 6.1 7.0 6.8 

 780 934 1,389 911 256 399 972 2,392 471 753 1,156 1,635

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 643 734 1,103 716 177 289 758 1,977 352 567 916 1,362

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 

 120 173 244 161 66 95 187 350 98 159 207 234

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 

 15 25 38 30 12 14 24 58 19 24 31 34

 > 80% HAMFI 2 2 4 4 2 1 2 7 3 2 3 5

Sources: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) dataset, 3-year sample, 2008-2010; CHAS, 5-year sample, 2006-2010; HUD 

longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files; iREMs database

Poverty Rate Quartile Median Gross Rent Quartile Median Household Income Quartile

Average percent of 

mainstream/designated 

voucher households among 

disabled voucher households

County level statistic 

average

Average percent of disabled, 

multifamily households in 

properties with disability 

accommodations

Average percent of disabled, 

public housing households 

with an accessibility feature 

in their unit

 Average number of HUD 

assisted households with at 

least one disabled person 

 By 

relative 

income 
24 

Table 10: Summary of supply and demand for affordable housing among disabled households, by quartile 

using county level averages (among counties with HUD assistance) (continued)

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 

13,394 14,553 18,137 10,305 5,099 7,045 14,155 30,169 6,664 11,915 15,537 22,301 

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 2,241 2,492 3,477 2,299 913 1,188 2,579 5,844 1,388 2,076 2,842 4,208 

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 

1,939 2,299 2,929 1,789 949 1,224 2,295 4,498 1,204 2,000 2,453 3,302 

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 

2,297 2,778 3,418 1,937 1,044 1,428 2,729 5,241 1,307 2,318 2,940 3,869 

 > 80% HAMFI 6,918 6,984 8,313 4,279 2,192 3,205 6,551 14,586 2,765 5,520 7,301 10,922 

22.3 27.0 30.0 33.5 34.2 29.4 26.7 22.4 35.5 29.9 25.8 21.6 

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 37.6 40.1 42.4 42.6 47.6 42.0 38.9 34.1 46.6 41.3 39.0 35.9

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 

33.0 37.7 41.2 44.1 46.7 41.0 37.1 31.1 46.8 41.2 36.6 31.3

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 

26.0 30.5 34.0 38.1 39.2 33.6 30.2 25.6 40.4 33.8 29.2 25.2

 > 80% HAMFI 17.4 21.3 23.8 26.9 26.5 23.3 21.4 18.2 28.2 23.9 20.3 17.0

12,614 13,620 16,748 9,394 4,842 6,646 13,183 27,776 6,193 11,162 14,380 20,665 

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 1,597 1,758 2,375 1,584 737 898 1,821 3,867 1,036 1,509 1,926 2,846 

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 

1,819 2,126 2,685 1,628 883 1,129 2,108 4,147 1,106 1,841 2,246 3,068 

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 

2,282 2,754 3,379 1,908 1,032 1,415 2,705 5,183 1,289 2,294 2,909 3,835 

 > 80% HAMFI 6,916 6,982 8,309 4,275 2,190 3,203 6,549 14,579 2,762 5,518 7,298 10,918 

21.3 25.6 28.5 31.7 32.6 28.0 25.3 21.1 33.7 28.4 24.5 20.4 

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 29.5 30.9 33.1 34.2 38.8 33.4 29.9 25.4 38.2 32.2 29.8 27.3 

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 

31.2 35.1 38.3 40.8 43.5 38.1 34.5 29.1 43.5 38.3 34.1 29.5 

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 

25.8 30.3 33.7 37.6 38.8 33.3 29.9 25.4 39.9 33.4 28.9 25.1 

 > 80% HAMFI 17.4 21.3 23.8 26.9 26.5 23.3 21.4 18.2 28.2 23.9 20.3 17.0 

95.4 94.7 94.4 94.2 95.1 95.0 94.5 94.1 94.8 94.8 94.4 94.8 

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 78.5 76.0 76.4 79.5 80.2 79.7 75.5 74.9 80.5 78.2 75.2 76.4 

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 

94.0 92.9 92.3 91.7 92.8 92.3 92.7 93.1 92.0 92.5 92.7 93.8 

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 

99.5 99.2 99.0 98.6 98.9 99.1 99.2 99.2 98.7 99.0 99.2 99.4 

 > 80% HAMFI 100.0 100.0 99.9 99.9 99.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 99.9 100.0 100.0 100.0 

Poverty Rate Quartile Median Gross Rent Quartile Median Household Income Quartile

 By 

relative 

income 

 Average percent of total 

households with at least one 

disabled person 

 By 

relative 

income 

Tenure: All owner- and renter-occupied households

 Average number of 

households with at least one 

disabled person 

Sources: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) dataset, 3-year sample, 2008-2010; CHAS, 5-year sample, 2006-2010; HUD 

longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files; iREMs database

 Average number of 

households with at least one 

disabled person (minus 

disabled households 

receiving HUD assistance) 

 By 

relative 

income 

 Average percent of total 

households with at least one 

disabled person (minus 

disabled households 

receiving HUD assistance) 

 By 

relative 

income 

 Average percent of disabled 

households not receiving 

HUD assistance 

 By 

relative 

income 
25 

Table 10: Summary of supply and demand for affordable housing among disabled households, by quartile 

using county level averages (among counties with HUD assistance) (continued)

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 

3,702 4,462 6,236 3,667 1,398 2,042 4,532 10,121 2,080 3,675 5,100 7,220

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 1,371 1,555 2,304 1,492 496 701 1,644 3,890 814 1,274 1,841 2,795

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 798 1,007 1,376 808 362 515 1,031 2,086 483 869 1,124 1,516

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 653 858 1,135 647 269 396 859 1,773 372 695 970 1,256

 > 80% HAMFI 881 1,042 1,421 720 271 430 998 2,372 411 837 1,166 1,653

 24.4 28.3 30.4 31.5 35.3 30.1 27.1 21.9 34.4 29.9 27.4 22.7

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 37.5 39.9 41.3 39.3 46.3 40.7 37.9 33.0 43.9 40.1 38.4 35.5

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 30.9 34.7 37.4 38.2 43.0 37.7 32.9 27.5 41.7 37.2 33.8 28.4

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 21.2 24.8 26.8 30.5 33.0 27.0 23.6 19.6 32.6 26.9 24.2 19.6

 > 80% HAMFI 15.2 18.5 20.0 21.1 22.0 19.8 18.7 14.2 22.8 19.5 18.2 14.2

2,922 3,528 4,847 2,756 1,141 1,643 3,561 7,728 1,609 2,923 3,944 5,585

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 727 821 1,201 776 319 412 886 1,913 462 707 925 1,433

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 678 834 1,133 647 296 421 844 1,736 385 710 917 1,282

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 638 833 1,096 617 257 382 834 1,715 354 671 939 1,222

 > 80% HAMFI 879 1,040 1,417 716 269 429 996 2,364 408 835 1,163 1,648

 20.3 23.2 25.1 25.8 29.1 25.0 22.4 17.9 28.6 24.6 22.6 18.6

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 23.1 24.5 26.0 25.3 30.7 25.9 23.2 19.0 29.4 25.0 23.4 21.0

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 26.7 28.9 30.9 30.8 35.1 31.2 27.5 23.5 33.9 30.6 28.4 24.4

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 20.8 24.0 25.9 29.1 31.5 26.1 23.0 19.1 31.1 25.9 23.6 19.2

 > 80% HAMFI 15.1 18.5 19.9 20.9 21.9 19.7 18.6 14.2 22.7 19.5 18.1 14.2

 82.8 81.6 81.3 80.3 81.6 81.8 81.6 81.0 81.2 81.5 81.6 81.7

 ≤ 30% HAMFI 60.0 57.6 58.9 60.4 61.9 58.8 59.9 56.2 60.3 62.0 56.6 57.9

 > 30%, ≤ 50% 

HAMFI 84.1 82.5 81.6 80.1 81.5 81.5 83.2 82.0 80.1 82.1 82.4 83.7

 > 50%, ≤ 80% 

HAMFI 98.1 95.7 95.9 95.6 94.4 95.4 97.7 97.8 95.2 95.6 96.8 97.8

 > 80% HAMFI 99.8 99.5 99.6 99.8 99.7 99.6 99.8 99.7 99.6 99.8 99.5 99.8

 Average percent of disabled, 

renting households not receiving 

HUD assistance 

 By 

relative 

income 

Sources: Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) dataset, 3-year sample, 2008-2010; CHAS, 5-year sample, 2006-2010; HUD 

longitudinal data from TRACS and PIC, 2013, household and member files; iREMs database

 Average percent of total renting 

households with at least one 

disabled person 

 By 

relative 

income 

 Average number of renting 

households with at least one 

disabled person (minus disabled 

households receiving HUD 

assistance) 

 By 

relative 

income 

 Average percent of total renting 

households with at least one 

disabled person (minus disabled 

households receiving HUD 

assistance) 

 By 

relative 

income 

Tenure: Renter-occupied households only

 Average number of renting 

households with at least one 

disabled person 

 By 

relative 

income 

Poverty Rate Quartile Median Gross Rent Quartile Median Household Income 
26 

Conclusions and Policy Implications 

This report presents the first comprehensive nationwide analysis of the relationship between 

disabled households, disabled HUD-assisted households, and the HUD-assisted units in which 

households reside. We conclude with a discussion of several policy implications of these 

findings, focusing on specific policy questions addressed by our analyses. 

Which HUD programs serve the largest number of disabled households by the age and sex of 

disabled household members? 

The number of disabled persons per HUD-assisted housing unit is largest among the workingage population (age 18-64), regardless of the sex of disabled persons. We find that HUD 

programs serve a larger number of female disabled adults than males, likely due in part to the 

prevalence of female-headed households in the population of HUD-assisted households. Below 

age 18, however, greater numbers of disabled males than disabled females are found per unit. 

Comparing these outcomes across program types, we find that the number of disabled persons 

per HUD-assisted housing unit is greatest in the mainstream voucher program, which is 

somewhat expected given that this program is specifically targeted to households with disabled 

persons. With the exception of the Section 811 program, most HUD programs serve a lower 

income population. 

Considering programs not specifically targeted to the needs of the disabled, the prevalence of 

disabled persons is highest in the tenant-based voucher program. Among disabled persons 

receiving tenant-based voucher assistance, less than five percent of disabled households receive 

assistance from a tenant-based program specifically targeted to the needs of the disabled. By 

comparison, 48 percent of disabled persons participating in the multifamily program live in 

properties with units designated for the disabled. This is a source of policy concern, because such 

non-designated vouchers do not come with supportive services or other accommodations to meet 

the needs of the disabled population. Furthermore, upon turnover, these vouchers may not be 

made available for other disabled households. 

Which types of geographic areas are most successful in serving the needs of disabled HUDassisted households? 

HUD-assisted disabled households are more prevalent in the West and in central counties, but 

these results vary with the age of disabled persons. Greater numbers of disabled individuals of all 

age groups are found per 1,000 assisted units in the South. We also find that these ratios are 

greater for working-aged female disabled persons in outlying suburban counties, for disabled 

children and elderly persons in the South, and for working-aged disabled persons in the West. 

We find that the percent of disabled HUD-assisted households living in units designated for the 

disabled varies little by geography with a few exceptions. In the public housing program, 

Western counties accommodate the highest share of disabled households in designated units, and 

in the multifamily program, rural Midwestern counties accommodate the highest percentage. If 

we consider those in the public housing program that have requested disability amenities, only 

30 percent of those requesting such amenities actually received them. This percentage is highest 

in the West, where 77 percent of those requesting disability features received them, and lowest in 
27 

the South, where only 11 percent of those requesting disability features received them. Central 

counties are also more successful in matching disabled households with their requested 

accommodations. We also find that in the public housing program particularly, counties with 

high poverty rates, low median rents, and low median incomes house the highest percent of 

disabled households living in units designated for the disabled. 

We find that a substantial percentage of potentially-eligible disabled U.S. households do not 

receive HUD assistance. Even among those with extremely low incomes (<30% of AMI), more 

than 70 percent of total households and more than 50 percent of renting households do not 

receive HUD assistance. This percentage is highest in outlying counties within the South and in 

counties with lower rents and, for total households, median incomes. These findings point to a 

need for more community outreach to identify potentially-eligible and interested disabled 

households for HUD’s disability assistance programs. Devine (2000) conducted an informal 

survey of 25 PHAs to identify how disabled households were recruited for participation in 

HUD’s mainstream voucher program and found that more than half added disabled persons to 

waiting lists following community outreach to local advocacy groups and other public and 

private agencies. Our results point to the need for more targeting of such efforts, particularly 

within suburban counties in the South. 

Which types of PHAs are most successful in serving the needs of disabled HUD-assisted 

households? 

We find that larger PHAs generally serve a larger number of disabled persons. Large PHAs are 

also generally more successful in accommodating disabled households within accessible units 

than smaller PHAs. There is one exception to these overall trends: medium-sized PHAs serve a 

larger population of working-aged disabled males. 

Future research should determine why large PHAs are more successful in accommodating 

disabled households within accessible units, particularly disabled households earning lower 

incomes. Larger PHAs may operate more efficiently due to economies of scale, may be better 

staffed, and may have more resources to address the needs of special needs populations. 

Alternatively, other confounding factors may be driving the results for large PHAs, such as 

disabled people being more predominantly located in areas with larger PHAs. PHAs in larger 

cities may also have admissions preferences that favor disabled persons of a particular sex or age 

group. Finally, as suggested by Devine’s (2000) analysis of a sample of PHAs administering the 

mainstream voucher program, larger PHAs may be more capable of actively seeking out special 

needs households through various community outreach efforts. 

How should HUD data resources be revised to address future questions pertaining to disability? 

We conclude with a discussion of proposed changes to HUD’s administrative datasets that would 

facilitate future analyses of HUD-assisted disabled households. First, information on disabled 

households is often provided in more than one database, raising the potential for conflicting 

information about the program or location where the household resides, even after controlling for 

the “effective date” of a household action. Future assessments, using pooled datasets scanned for 

consistency, would better allow researchers to unambiguously identify a household’s program 

and geography at a given point in time. 
28 

Second, the definition of disability and disability program status are not clearly and consistently 

identified in HUD’s data resources. Both PIC and TRACS include a single variable identifying 

disability for HUD program participants, but the information does not contain type of disability, 

making it impossible to determine if HUD households are living in units appropriate for their 

disability. Only public housing residents are asked to identify whether an accessible unit was 

requested and received. This information should be provided for all HUD program participants, 

and an additional question should be added such as, “Does the requested accessible unit provide 

all necessary accommodations appropriate to the disabled household member(s) needs?” 

Furthermore, the information for disability program status was made available in several separate 

variables (see Appendix A). We recommend that a single variable be created to make it easier to 

identify any and all disability programs for which HUD-assisted households qualify. If additional 

supportive services are provided, these should be identified as well. 

Third, we note several instances of missing data and potential measurement error in key 

variables used to analyze disability. For example, roughly 15 percent of public housing 

observations did not have information on whether accessibility features were provided. In some 

instances, high values for age were observed (with more than 1,700 observations being over 100, 

and more than 2 dozen over 120), several of which were seemingly unrealistic. This generally 

coincided with erroneous information on birth dates. 

Finally, in this analysis we had to combine both the 5-year (2006-2010) and 3-year (2008-2010) 

CHAS files to determine the total number of disabled households within each income group, 

because both the total number of households and total number of disabled households within 

each income group was not available in each sample. Future CHAS products should make such 

comparisons feasible for each CHAS sample provided. 
29 

References 

Devine, Deborah. 2000. Persons with Disabilities Assisted under the Section 8 Mainstream SetAside Program. Cityscape 5, 1: 231-235. 

Hoffman, Denise W. and Gina A. Livermore. 2012. The house next door: A comparison of 

residences by disability status using new measures in the American Housing Survey. Cityscape 

14, 1: 5-34. 

Perl, Libby. 2013. Section 811 and Other HUD Housing Programs for Persons with Disabilities. 

Congressional Research Service report 7-5700. Washington, D.C. 

Schwartz, Alex F. 2015. Housing Policy in the United States, 3rd Ed. Routledge: London. 

She, Peiyun, and Gina A. Livermore. 2009. Long-Term Poverty and Disability among WorkingAge Adults. Journal of Disability Policy Studies 19, 4: 244–256.

Souza, Maria Teresa, Robert A. Collinson, Marge Martin, Barry L. Steffen, David A. 

Vandenbroucke, and Yung-Gann David Yao. 2011. 2009 Worst Case Housing Needs of People 

with Disabilities. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy 

Development and Research: Washington, D.C. 
30 

Appendices. Explanation of data products and variable 

codebook

The first part of this document, Appendix A, provides a detailed explanation of the process 

associated with generating the data products and the variables contained therein. A codebook 

listing the variable and their definitions for each file can be found in the second part of this 

document in Appendix B. While the information in these two sections overlap to a large extent, 

the first section offers additional details beyond particular calculations, and more specifically 

outlines the assumptions made by the researchers, as well as any additional comments and 

caveats. 

Appendix A. Explanation of data products 

Data products derived from public summary files 

The following data products, A)-D), were calculated at the national, state, county, and place level 

(using FIPS codes for the latter three),7

using publicly available data from the Census Bureau and 

the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Note that all output covers only the 50 

states and the District of Columbia (thereby ignoring other regions with FIPS codes, such as 

Puerto Rico). Product D) additionally reports variables at the level of PHA and multifamily 

Project. 

A) Number of disabled persons by sex and age (< 5, 5-17, 18-34, 35-64, 65-74, 75+), and 

ratio of number of disabled persons by sex and age to the number of occupied housing 

units. 

Source: 2009-2013 5-year ACS estimates (Tables B18101 for disability status and 

B25002 for occupied housing units)

Files: “sex by age by disability, ACS 2009-2013 (total count).xlsx” and 

“sex by age by disability, ACS 2009-2013 (per occupied housing unit).xlsx”

Geographies are distinguished by worksheet, within each file. Variable names are 

primarily self-explanatory, and make use of the following acronyms: 

o Dis: disabled

o POHU: per occupied housing unit 

B) Ratio of number of disabled persons by age (<18, 18-64, and 65+) and poverty status to 

number of occupied housing units. 

Source: 2009-2013 5-year ACS estimates (Table C18130 for disability / poverty status 

and B25002 for occupied housing units).

 

7 A “Census designated place” (CDP), or “place” for short, is defined by the Census as a concentration of 

population identified for statistical classifications purposes. They are delineated for each decennial census as the 

statistical counterparts of incorporated places, such as counties, towns, and villages. CDPs are not jurisdictions per 

se; however, their geography tends to be similar to the places incorporated within. 
31 

File: “age by disability by poverty, ACS 2009-2013 (per occupied housing unit).xls”

Geographies are distinguished by worksheet. Variable names are primarily selfexplanatory, and make use of the following acronyms: 

o Dis: disabled

o Pov/NoPov: count for households that are in poverty/not in poverty 

o POHU: per occupied housing unit 

Products A) and B) were obtained directly from queries made on Dataferret. 

Unfortunately, the age category breakdowns available for B) are less detailed in the 5-

year estimates for ACS (in the case of disability/poverty status, only the “C” Table is 

available for download, rather than the alternative, more detailed “B” Table).

C) Number of households containing at least one disabled person by type of disability, 

tenure status, and household income (as a percent of HAMFI). 

Source: 2008-2010 CHAS (obtained using the CHAS Data Query tool on huduser.org). 

File: “CHAS data, 2008-2010.xls”

For this data product, the variable names already provided by CHAS were used. They are 

identified in the subsequent worksheet, labeled “variable key.” 

D) Total unit count, total occupied, percent occupied, number reported, and percent (among 

those occupied) reported. 

Source: A Picture of Subsidized Housing (POSH), 2013 

File: “POSH unit totals by program.xlsx”

Nine program categories are used in this file, and are determined using the “program” 

and “sub-program” variables from POSH (which is available only in the Project level file, 

which is then aggregated for other levels of geography), as follows: 

1) Public housing: program equals 2

2) Section 8 certificates and vouchers: program equals 3 

3) Section 8 mod rehab: program equals 4 

4) Multifamily, Section 202: sub-program equals 2 or 3 

5) Multifamily, Section 236: sub-program equals 4 

6) Multifamily, Section 811: program equals 4, (i.e., sub-program equals 5 or 6) 

7) Multifamily, programs breaking out Section 8: sub-program equals 1 

8) Multifamily, all other: sub-program equals 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 

9) All programs combined: no qualifiers

Note that POSH provides information on the number of total units and the percent 

reported, from which it is possible to estimate, as done here, the number of occupied 

units. However, in the event of a low occupied unit count, the percent occupied is not 
32 

reported. By extension, this inhibits the percent reported, among those occupied, from 

also being reported (since the denominator is missing, in such cases). For this reason, in 

addition to the four variables, two flag variables, Flag_OccupiedMissingObs and 

Flag_NumReportedMissingObs, are reported. The former indicates whether the project 

level observation – for the Project level sheet – or at least one project level observation 

used to aggregate the value listed in the row for higher levels of aggregation was missing 

information on the percent of occupied units; the latter reports this for in a similar manner 

for the number reported variable, when information for it was missing for either a row 

directly in the Project worksheet or at least one of the projects used to calculate estimates 

for higher levels of aggregation. Thus, when a flag for either is reported, it is important 

that the estimate of total occupied and percent occupied (for the former flag), and number 

reported (for the second flag) be interpreted as a lower bound. When the second flag only 

is reported, the percent reported may be interpreted as an upper bound. However, when 

both flags are reported for a row, it is difficult to interpret the percent reported, since both 

the numerator and denominator comprising the estimate are underestimated. 

Note also that, for the PHA worksheet, unit counts for the multifamily programs are not 

provided. This is because PHAs do not oversee multifamily programs. 

Data products derived from HUD administrative data 

Before discussing the subsequent data products, the following several measures that were taken, 

in preparing the data for aggregation, should be noted. 

 Any rows in the data indicating the households removal from a program, i.e., with an 

entry for actn_type_cd of "6","MO", or "TM", was dropped from our analysis 

 Beginning with the longitudinal file (“index_hshld_longitudinal_2013”), it was 

recognized that many observations had duplicate entries in the data. These were primarily 

managed by using information about the most recent effective date (efctv_dt). In the 

event of duplicates entries with identical entries for efctv_dt, however, the following 

process was employed. 

o Households were then compared the the date provided from the variable admsn_dt. 

The entry with the more recent admission date was used, when a discrepancy existed. 

o In the event of identical dates for admsn_dt as well, it was observed that virtually all 

households with duplicates entries were listed in more than one system (the Public 

and Indian Housing Information Center, or PIC [form 50058, and/or form 50058 

MTW], or TRACS), and that one of the entries had listed as being part of a tenantbased or project-based housing choice voucher program (based on how participation 

in such is defined in Table 1A of this document). These HCV entries for each 

household were given priority. 

o Less than a dozen households remain with duplicate entries, following this procedure. 

Most of these share identical geographic and income information, and are thus of no 

concern. Four households remained, which contained conflicting geographic 

information. In the absence of further information, one of the two locations was 
33 

arbitrarily chosen, since no other information was available to indicate which should 

take priority. 

 Households are then classified into one of eleven HUD program categories (public 

housing; Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) – tenant based/all other; HCV – “designated”; 

HCV – mainstream; HCV – homeownership; HCV – project-based; Section 8 Moderate 

Rehabilitation; multifamily assisted programs breaking out Section 8, Section 202/811, 

and Section 236). For details on this procedure, see Table 1A. In addition, they are 

separately included in a category for all HUD programs combined. Programs for HCV 

and multifamily are also combined together, in separate categories. 

 Households are furthermore classified into one of four income categories: 

o Extremely low income (L30): where 

total_annl_incm_amnt ≤ ext_low_inc_lmt_amnt, or 

ext_low_inc_lmt_indr equals “Y”

o Very low income (L50): where 

ext_low_inc_lmt_amnt < total_annl_incm_amnt ≤ very_low_inc_lmt_amnt, or 

(very_low_inc_lmt_indr equals “Y” and ext_low_inc_lmt_indr does not equal “Y”)

(note that this category excludes L30 households) 

o Low income (L80): where 

very_low_inc_lmt_amnt < total_annl_incm_amnt ≤ low_inc_lmt_amnt

(note that this category excludes L50 and L30 households) 

o Non-low income (all other): where 

total_annl_incm_amnt > low_inc_lmt_amnt 

 In the event that no information is provided on either income or income category 

thresholds that apply to a household, they are excluded from this part of the analysis (note 

that these were not a major concern, as they comprise less than one percent of the total 

sample) 

 The following methods were used to identify particular attributes of each household: 

o Whether disability features were requested: acsblty_rqstd_indr equals “Y” or 

acsblty_rcvd_indr equaled “1” through “6” (i.e., neither contains an empty value, nor 

equals “0”)

o Whether disability features were obtained: acsblty_rcvd_indr equals “1” or “2”

o Whether a household’s unit was designated as accessible: acsbl_unit_indr equals 

“Y”

o Whether the accessibility designation is known: acsbl_unit_indr equals “Y” or “N” 

(i.e., not empty) 
34 

 Disability status: households were identified as disabled by one of the following three 

methods: 

o Using the member file (index_member_longitudinal_2013), if a member of the 

household had a disability indicator (mbr_dsblty_indr) of “Y” or “y”

o In the event no disabled were reported in the aforementioned file, households were 

alternatively labeled as disabled* by one of the following methods: 

 Using the disabled indicator from the “mf_member_special_status_code” file, 

households were denoted as disabled if “H” was reported under 

SPECIAL_STATUS_CD 

 Matching households to the file “mf_property_id_imparement”, a household was 

labeled as disabled if they had an indicator of “Y” for any of the following three 

variables: MOBILITY_IMPARED_IND, HEARING_IMPRD_IND, 

VISUALLY_IMPRD_IND 

o Lastly, when merged with the “ssi_households” file, if the family is recorded as 1) 

receiving a nonzero amount of SSI, and 2) not having anyone in the household age 

65+ (since disability is not a prerequisite for members of this group to receive SSI) 

*For these households, we cannot calculate just how many members within a household are 

disabled, let alone their age and gender. As a conservative measure, we assume that only one 

disabled member resides in each of these households. Any aggregated tabulations, therefore, 

concerned with the total disabled count per region ought to be regarded as a lower bound 

estimate. Tabulations concerning the sex and age of disabled household members will not 

include these households, since there is no information to identify the age and sex of the disabled 

household member(s). 

 When collapsing the data to various geographic levels, the following information from 

the longitudinal file (i.e., index_hshld_longitudinal_2013) is used to classify a 

household’s geography:

o State: unit_fips_state_cd

o County: unit_fips_state_cd and unit_fips_cnty_cd 

o Place: unit_fips_state_cd and unit_place_cd 

o PHA: pha_cd 

o Project: for observations from TRACS, proj_num; for observations from PIC, 

dvlpt_num 

The variables used to identify geography in the data products are hhNation, hhState, hhCounty, 

hhPlace, hhPHA, hhProj. 

It should also be noted that many variables generated using the HUD longitudinal data are 

bottom-coded, in the event that few households are counted for a particular statistic within a 

specified geography and program. In general, entries are bottom-coded with a value of -1 in the 
35 

event that the number (or, in the event of it being a fraction or percent, the value of either the 

numerator or denominator) is less than 10. Details concerning which variables are subject to 

bottom-coding, and how bottom-coding was determined in such cases, are provided in the 

codebook (Appendix B). 

The following products were calculated at the following levels, using HUD administrative data: 

national, state, county, place, PHA, and housing project: 

E) Number of disabled household members per HUD-assisted unit by sex and age (< 5, 5-

17, 18-34, 35-64, 65-74, 75+, and all age categories). 

Files: “disabled household count by sex by age.xlsx” 

The age categories are constructed so as to be consistent with those reported in the ACS. 

The age and gender of each household member is determined directly from the 

“index_member_longitudinal” file (which is merged with the previously discussed 

household data), using the “mbr_age_yr_cnt” and “male” variables. Note that some 

observations were reported with erroneous, or seemingly erroneous, information; over 

1700 observations have a reported age of 100+, and 26 observations of 120+. Albeit an 

arbitrary threshold, for the sake of establishing a boundary, we cap the age 75+ category 

at the age of 110. 

o First, binary variables are created which classify whether a household member falls 

into a particular sex-age-disabled category (e.g., male, age 18-34, disabled). 

o Second, this information is aggregated to the household level, by taking the 

summation for each indicator by household id, giving us a household level total of 

disabled persons for each sex-age-disability cohort. 

o The dataset is then collapsed to the household level. 

o For each geographic level, households are then aggregated by taking the summation 

of household totals for each group. This value, for each cohort, is then divided by the 

summation of total HUD-assisted units, which is calculated as the summation of all 

households within our longitudinal file that are identified with that particular level of 

geography. The acronym PAU for each variable is used to refer to “per assisted unit”.

F) Number of households containing at least one disabled person by household income (as a 

percent of HAMFI). 

Files: “disabled household count by household income.xlsx”

The aggregation process is conducted in a manner very analogous to E), with a few 

notable exceptions. First the number of disabled persons was not counted; instead, a 

binary indicator was simply used to denote if a household had at least one disabled 

member. These binary values were then aggregated to produce a total household count 

for each geographic level. Second, instead of calculating the summations for each 

geographic level by sex-age-disabled cohort, the disabled households are each separated 

into four income categories (L30, L50, L80, and non-low income). The values in this file 

are reported in terms of both total count and, as with E), per-assisted unit. 
36 

Note: All statistics to be henceforth discussed have their variable names noted in parentheses at 

the end of each heading. 

Public Housing Statistics 

File: “disability characteristics of public housing residents.xlsx” 

For public housing statistics, G)-K), the sample is filtered to include only households for which 

the variable “pgm_type_cd” equals “P”.

G) Number of disabled persons per public housing household (totDisabledPerPHHH) 

The summation of disabled individuals contained in all public housing households, 

divided by the total number of public housing households counted for that particular 

geography.

H) Number of public housing households with at least one disabled person 

(totalDisabledHHs) 

The sum of public housing households with at least one disabled person. 

I) Percent of public housing households with at least one disabled person 

(pctTotalDisabledHHs) 

The value from H), times 100, divided by the total number of HUD-assisted units counted 

at each level of geography. 

J) Number of public housing households requesting disability features by disability status 

(reqstdAccssbltFtrs_Dis, reqstdAccssbltFtrs_NoDis) 

Calculated by tallying the total number of households for which either 1) 

acsblty_rqstd_indr equals “Y” or 2) acsblty_rcvd_indr equals “1” through “6” (i.e., does 

not equal 0, nor is blank). This is calculated separately for households with and without 1 

or more disabled persons in the household. 

K) Percent of public housing households requesting disability features which have at least 

one disabled person (pctReqstdAccssbltFtrs_Dis) 

The value from J) for reqstdAccssbltFtrs_Dis, times 100, divided by the sum of 

reqstdAccssbltFtrs_Dis and reqstdAccssbltFtrs_NoDis. 

L) Number of public housing households receiving disability features by disability status 

(recvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis, recvdAccssbltFtrs_NoDis) 

Similar procedure to J): this time, tallying only disabled and nondisabled households for 

which acsblty_rcvd_indr equals “1” or “2” (i.e., the household fully [“1”] or partially 

[“2”] received accessibility features that were requested)

M) Percent of public housing households receiving disability features which have at least one 

disabled person (pctRecvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis) 

The value from L) for recvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis, times 100, divided by the sum of 

recvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis and recvdAccssbltFtrs_NoDis. 
37 

N) Number of public housing households requesting accessibility features, which ultimately 

received them, by disability status (reqstdAndRecvd_Dis, reqstdAndRecvd_NoDis) 

For disabled and non-disabled groups separately, the number of households which both 

requested and received accessibility features. 

O) Percent of public housing households requesting accessibility features, which ultimately 

received them, by disability status (pctReqstdAndRecvd_Dis, 

pctRreqstdAndRecvd_NoDis) 

The first is equal to reqstdAndRecvd_Dis, times 100, divided by reqstdAccssbltFtrs_Dis. 

The second is equal to reqstdAndRecvd_NoDis, times 100, divided by 

reqstdAccssbltFtrs_NoDis. 

P) Percent of public housing households with at least one disabled person receiving housing 

units with disability features (pctDisHHsWithAccssbltyFtrs) 

The value from recvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis, times 100, divided by the total number of 

disabled public housing households (totalDisabledHHs) counted for that geography. 

Multifamily Assisted Program Statistics 

File: “disability characteristics of multifamily residents.xlsx”

As the next calculations, L)-O), all pertain to multifamily assisted tenants, the sample is filtered 

to households designated, following the procedure outlined in Table 1A, for the following 

categories: Section 202, Section 811, Section 236, multifamily programs breaking out Section 8, 

and “all other”. 

Q) Number of disabled persons per multifamily unit (totDisabledPerUnit) 

Similar procedure to that of G), this time using the universe of multifamily – rather than 

public housing - households. 

The unit count is determined directly for all geographic levels except for the PHA and 

Project level using Data directly from the POSH database. The total unit count is 

aggregated for each geography for program categories “Section 8 New Construction or 

Substantial Rehabilitation (including 202/8 projects)”, “Section 236 Projects (FHAFederal Housing Administration)”, and “All other multifamily assisted projects with 

FHA insurance or HUD subsidy (including Section 8 Loan Management, Rental 

Assistance Program (RAP), Rent Supplement (SUP), Property Disposition, Section 

202/811 capital advance, and Preservation”. The total unit counts for PHA and project 

level results are alternatively calculated using the information within the longitudinal 

data, using a method similar to that outlined for counting the number of project level 

public housing units. Instead of using dvlpt_num and dvlpmnt_acc_unit_cnt. However, 

the variables cntrt_num and cntrt_asstd_unit_cnt are used, which are specific to each 

multifamily contract. In the case of PHA level estimates, however, not every household 

within a particular multifamily unit always belonged to the same PHA. A threshold was 

employed, therefore, whereby a PHA’s unit count only included a multifamily unit if more 
38 

than 10 percent of the households listed under for a given entry for cntrt_num were listed 

with the PHA.

R) Number of households living in multifamily properties with at least one disabled person 

(totalDisabledHHs) 

The sum of multifamily households with at least one disabled person. 

S) Percent of households living in multifamily properties with at least one disabled person 

(pctTotalDisabledHHs) 

The value from totalDisabledHHs, times 100, divided by the total number of multifamily 

households counted for the geography. 

T) Number of households with at least one disabled person living in multifamily properties 

designed for the disabled disaggregated by type of disability feature (facility for 

elderly+disabled, disabled exclusively, the chronically mentally ill, the physically 

disabled, the developmentally disabled, or persons with HIV) (totalDisHHs_<condition>, 

where <condition> refers to EldrlyDisbld, DisbldExclsv, ChrncMentlIll, PhysDisbld, 

DvlpmtDisbld, HIV) 

Similar procedure to that of R), with calculations further disaggregated by the type of 

disability feature. Such disaggregation is made possible from merging the household data 

with the iREMS files - “iREMS 20141016 dbo_owner_survey” (1) and “iREMS 

20141016 dbo_client_group_occupancy_detail” (2) – containing the following indicators: 

o eldrly_disabled_indicator (1) 

o exclusive_disabled_indicator (1) 

o chronically_mentally_ill_ind (2) 

o mobility_impairment_ind / other_impairment_ind (2) (facilities are identified as 

being for physically disabled if either one of these indicators equals “Y”)

o developmentally_disabled_ind (2) 

o hiv_ind (2) 

U) Percent of households with at least one disabled person residing in multifamily housing 

units with disability features by type of disability feature (pctDisHHs_<condition>, 

where <condition> refers to those listed in T)) 

The value from T) is multiplied by 100, then divided by the total number of households 

residing in units containing each type of disability feature. (For example, if in a locality 

there are 100 households with at least one disabled person living in a unit of a facility 

identified as being for the physically disabled, and there are 200 total households 

identified within that locality as residing within a unit of a facility for the physically 

disabled, the value reported here would be 50 percent.) Note that in some geographies, 

there are zero units with a particular disability feature, in which case this procedure 

produces an empty value, since zero cannot be a denominator value. 
39 

Assisted Unit Count 

File: “accessible unit count by number of bedrooms.xlsx”

V) The number of accessible public housing and multifamily units by bedroom count 

(accessibleUnits_<bedroom group>, where <bedroom group> is categorized into 0 to 1 

bedrooms (0to1Br), 2 bedrooms (2Br), 3 bedrooms (3Br), and 4 or more bedrooms 

(4plusBr)) 

These estimates are obtained by counting the number of households inhabiting 1) a public 

housing unit which, by our previously noted criteria, is denoted as accessible, or 2) a 

multifamily property with disability features previously listed under T). Note that, 

because no information was available to the researchers for counting the number of units 

within each multifamily property specifically (i.e., the iREMs categorizes, for 

multifamily properties as a whole, whether disability features are available), these counts 

are to be interpreted as upper bound estimates. The bedroom count for each unit is 

determined from the variable num_bedrm_cnt, listed for each observation in the HUD 

longitudinal data. 

Supply and Demand Statistics 

File: “unaided inventory.xlsx”

This file, provided for four geographic levels (U.S., state, county, and place) is discussed in two 

parts. The first, with products W) through Y), concerns statistics compiled with the combined 

use of HUD longitudinal data and CHAS data. The second, with Z) though BB), covers the final 

three summary statistics derived directly from the HUD longitudinal data. 

The CHAS data provided by HUD for 2008-2010 (Table 6), when disaggregated by income 

group, provides only calculations that are disaggregated by disability group, including a group 

for nondisabled households. Because a household may be counted under more than one disabled 

category, it is therefore currently not possible to directly calculate the total number of disabled 

households by adding together the totals from each group. For this reason, we additionally 

employ the CHAS dataset for 2006-2010, where an estimate of the total households for each 

income category are provided (Table 1A6). Subsequent references to the count of total disabled 

households, for each low income group, are to be thus interpreted as the difference between of 

total number of households according to the 2006-2010 CHAS data, and the total number of 

households identified as non-disabled, according to the 2008-2010 CHAS data. 

W) Total disabled households at various HUD-assistance-eligible HAMFI levels (disHHs 

<income group>, where <income group> refers to households within the income groups 

L30, L50, L80, over L80 [and, as noted earlier in this document, with these income 

groups being mutually exclusive, such that L50, for example, does not include L30 

households], and all income groups) 

This is calculated directly from CHAS, by taking the estimated total number of disabled 

households within each of the four income groups. 
40 

X) Percent of households at various HUD-assistance-eligible HAMFI levels which have at 

least one disabled person (pctDisHHs <income group>) 

For each income group, the value from W), times 100, divided by the total number of 

households within that income group. 

Y) Total households at various HUD-assistance-eligible HAMFI levels with at least one 

disabled person minus disabled households receiving HUD assistance 

(unaidedDisHHs<income group>) 

This simply subtracts, from W), the number of HUD-assisted households with at least 

one disabled person within each low income category. These were calculated directly in 

the previously discussed “disabled household count by household income” file.

Z) Percent of households at various HUD-assistance-eligible HAMFI levels with at least one 

disabled person minus disabled households receiving HUD assistance 

(pctUnaidedDisHHs<income group>) 

Similar procedure to X), but using Y) for the numerator instead of W). 

AA) Percent of households with at least one disabled person not receiving HUD assistance 

(pctUnaidedDisHHs<income group>) 

The value of Y) divided by W). 

The final three summary statistics are calculated directly from the HUD longitudinal database. 

BB) Percent of disabled HUD-assisted household in a housing voucher program, whose 

voucher is either part of the Designated or Mainstream voucher program 

(pctDisVoucherHHsInDesigOrMs) 

This calculates the percentage of households with one or more disabled persons listed 

under one of the five voucher programs listed in Table 1A which fall into either the 

designated or mainstream voucher category. 

CC) Percent of disabled HUD-assisted, households in a multifamily property living within a 

multifamily property with designated accessible units (pctDisMFHHsInAccblUnt) 

This calculates the percentage of households with one or disabled person, among those 

within a multifamily program, which live within a multifamily property that is designed 

for any one of the disability groups listed previously under H) and I). 

DD) Percent of disabled HUD-assisted, public housing households living within a designated 

accessible unit (pctDisPHHHsInAccblUnt) 

This calculates the percentage of public housing households with at least one disabled 

person that are living in an accessible unit (indicated by having an entry of “Y” under 

acsbl_unit_indr) 
41 

Table A1. Methodology for sorting each household into applicable HUD program 

Program Identified in household data using

public housing pgm_type_cd equals "P"

housing choice vouchers (HCV): 

tenant-based and all other

1) either A) pgm_type_cd equals "CE","PR","H", or "T"; or B) 

pgm_type_cd equals "VO" and vchr_type_cd either equals "TBV" or is 

blank; and 2) neither ned_spcl_pgm_indr nor ms5_spcl_pgm_indr 

equals 1

HCV: "designated" 1) pgm_type_cd equals "CE","PR","H", "T", or "V"; or B) 

pgm_type_cd equals "VO" and 2) ned_spcl_pgm_indr equals 1, and 3) 

ms5_spcl_pgm_indicator does not equal 1

HCV: mainstream 1) pgm_type_cd equals "CE","PR","H", "T", or "V"; or B) 

pgm_type_cd equals "VO" and 2) ms5_spcl_pgm_indr equals 1

HCV: homeownership pgm_type_cd equals "VO" and vchr_type_cd equals "HV"

HCV: project-based pgm_type_cd equals "VO" and vchr_type_cd equals "PBV"

Section 8 moderate rehabilitation pgm_type_cd equals "MR"

Section 202 either 1) pgm_type_cd equals "H7" or "H9"; or 2) the 4th and 5th digits 

of proj_num equal "EH","HH", or "SH"

Section 811 pgm_type_cd equals "H6" or "H8"

Section 236 either 1) pgm_type_cd equals "H4" or 2) pgm_type_cd equals "H1" and 

the 4th and 5th digits of proj_num equal "44" or "45"

multifamily assisted programs 

breaking out Section 8

all observations with pgm_type_cd of H1,H2,H3, and H5 which are not 

otherwise part of Section 202/811 or 236, above

All programs combined no qualifiers

All HCV programs combined All 5 HCV programs listed above

All Multifamily programs combined All multifamily programs listed above (Section 202, 236, and 811; all 

multifamily programs breaking out Section 8)
42 

Appendix B. Variable Codebook 

SEX BY AGE BY DISABILITY, ACS 2009-2013 (TOTAL COUNT).XLSX

NOTE: this file is provided in four sheets, one for each level of geography (nation, state, county, and place)

Variable Description

GEOID Geography ID 

SUMLEVEL Summary level (not reported in "nation" worksheet)

ST State FIPS code (not reported in "nation" worksheet)

COUNTY County FIPS code (reported only for "county" worksheet)

PLACE Place FIPS code (reported only for "place" worksheet)

malesUnder5Dis Total disabled males under the age of 5

males5to17Dis Total disabled males age 5-17

males18to34Dis Total disabled males age 18-34

males35to65Dis Total disabled males age 35-65

males65to74Dis Total disabled males age 65-74

males75PlusDis Total disabled males age 75 or higher

femalesUnder5Dis Total disabled females under the age of 5

females5to17Dis Total disabled females age 5-17

females18to34Dis Total disabled females age 18-34

females35to65Dis Total disabled females age 35-65

females65to74Dis Total disabled females age 65-74

females75PlusDis Total disabled females age 75 or higher

SEX BY AGE BY DISABILITY, ACS 2009-2013 (PER OCCUPIED HOUSING UNIT).XLSX

NOTE: this file is provided in four sheets, one for each level of geography (nation, state, county, and place)

Variable Description

GEOID Geography ID 

SUMLEVEL Summary level (not reported in "nation" worksheet)

ST State FIPS code (not reported in "nation" worksheet)

COUNTY County FIPS code (reported only for "county" worksheet)

PLACE Place FIPS code (reported only for "place" worksheet)

malesUnder5DisPOHU Total disabled males under the age of 5, per occupied housing unit

males5to17DisPOHU Total disabled males age 5-17, per occupied housing unit

males18to34DisPOHU Total disabled males age 18-34, per occupied housing unit

males35to65DisPOHU Total disabled males age 35-65, per occupied housing unit

males65to74DisPOHU Total disabled males age 65-74, per occupied housing unit

males75PlusDisPOHU Total disabled males age 75 or higher, per occupied housing unit

femalesUnder5DisPOHU Total disabled females under the age of 5, per occupied housing 

unit

females5to17DisPOHU Total disabled females age 5-17, per occupied housing unit
43 

females18to34DisPOHU Total disabled females age 18-34, per occupied housing unit

females35to65DisPOHU Total disabled females age 35-65, per occupied housing unit

females65to74DisPOHU Total disabled females age 65-74, per occupied housing unit

females75PlusDisPOHU Total disabled females age 75 or higher, per occupied housing unit

AGE BY DISABILITY BY POVERTY, ACS 2009-2013 (PER OCCUPIED HOUSING UNIT).XLS

NOTE: this file is provided in four sheets, one for each level of geography (nation, state, county, and place)

Variable Description

GEOID Geography ID 

SUMLEVEL Summary level (not reported in "nation" worksheet)

ST State FIPS code (not reported in "nation" worksheet)

COUNTY County FIPS code (reported only for "county" worksheet)

PLACE Place FIPS code (reported only for "place" worksheet)

under18DisPOHU Total disabled population below age 18, per occupied housing unit

under18DisPovPOHU Total disabled population below age 18 in poverty, per occupied 

housing unit

under18DisNoPovPOHU Total disabled population below age 18 not in poverty, per occupied 

housing unit

age18to64DisPOHU Total disabled population age 18-64, per occupied housing unit

age18to64DisPovPOHU Total disabled population age 18-64 in poverty, per occupied 

housing unit

age18to64DisNoPovPOHU Total disabled population age 18-64 not in poverty, per occupied 

housing unit

age65PlusDisPOHU Total disabled population age 65 and above, per occupied housing 

unit

age65PlusDisPovPOHU Total disabled population age 65 and above in poverty, per 

occupied housing unit

age65PlusDisNoPovPOHU Total disabled population age 65 and above not in poverty, per 

occupied housing unit

POSH UNIT TOTALS BY PROGRAM.XLSX

NOTE: this file is provided in one sheet, combining six different levels of geographic aggregation (nation, state, 

county, place, PHA, and project)

Nation indicator for U.S.

State State FIPS code

County County FIPS code

Place Place FIPS code

PHA PHA ID

Project Project ID

HUDProgramCategory HUD Program Category (See Data Explanations Section for how 

these are determined)

totalUnits total number of units

totalOccupied total number of occupied units

pctOccupied totalOccupied divided by totalUnits
44 

totalReported Number of households for which reports(Form-50058, From-50059) 

were received

pctReported Percent, among those occupied, for which reports were received

Flag_OccupiedMissingObs Indicator either 1) for non-project level estimates, at least one 

project used to calculate the aggregated estimate was missing 

information for the percent (and, by extension, the number 

occupied), or 2) for project level estimates, that information was 

missing for the percent, and number, occupied

Flag_NumReportedMissingObs Indicator either 1) for non-project level estimates, at least one 

project used to calculate the aggregated estimate was missing 

information for the number (and thus the percent) reported, or 2) 

for project level estimates, that information was missing for the 

number (and percent) reported

CHAS DATA, 2008-2010.XLS

NOTE: this file is provided in one sheet, combining four different levels of geographic aggregation (nation, state, 

county, and place)

Variable Description

sumlevel Summary level (not reported in "nation" worksheet)

geoid Geography ID

name Name

st State FIPS code

cnty County FIPS code

place Place FIPS code

T6_est1 Total: Occupied housing units

T6_est87 Renter occupied

T6_est2 Tenure: All; Household member has a hearing or vision impairment

T6_est19 Tenure: All; Household member has an ambulatory limitation

T6_est36 Tenure: All; Household member has a cognitive limitation

T6_est53 Tenure: All; Household member has a self-care or independent 

living limitation

T6_est70 Tenure: All; Household member has none of the above limitations

T6_est88 Renter occupied; Household member has a hearing or vision 

impairment

T6_est105 Renter occupied; Household member has an ambulatory limitation

T6_est122 Renter occupied; Household member has a cognitive limitation

T6_est139 Renter occupied; Household member has a self-care or 

independent living limitation

T6_est156 Renter occupied; Household member has none of the above 

limitations

T6_est3 Tenure: All; Household member has a hearing or vision impairment 

AND Household income is less than or equal to 30% of HAMFI

T6_est7 Tenure: All; Household member has a hearing or vision impairment 

AND Household income is greater than 30% but less than or equal 

to 50% of HAMFI
45 

T6_est11 Tenure: All; Household member has a hearing or vision impairment 

AND Household income is greater than 50% but less than or equal 

to 80% of HAMFI

T6_est15 Tenure: All; Household member has a hearing or vision impairment 

AND Household income is greater than 80% of HAMFI

T6_est20 Tenure: All; Household member has an ambulatory limitation AND 

Household income is less than or equal to 30% of HAMFI

T6_est24 Tenure: All; Household member has an ambulatory limitation AND 

Household income is greater than 30% but less than or equal to 

50% of HAMFI

T6_est28 Tenure: All; Household member has an ambulatory limitation AND 

Household income is greater than 50% but less than or equal to 

80% of HAMFI

T6_est32 Tenure: All; Household member has an ambulatory limitation AND 

Household income is greater than 80% of HAMFI

T6_est37 Tenure: All; Household member has a cognitive limitation AND 

Household income is less than or equal to 30% of HAMFI

T6_est41 Tenure: All; Household member has a cognitive limitation AND 

Household income is greater than 30% but less than or equal to 

50% of HAMFI

T6_est45 Tenure: All; Household member has a cognitive limitation AND 

Household income is greater than 50% but less than or equal to 

80% of HAMFI

T6_est49 Tenure: All; Household member has a cognitive limitation AND 

Household income is greater than 80% of HAMFI

T6_est54 Tenure: All; Household member has a self-care or independent 

living limitation AND Household income is less than or equal to 30% 

of HAMFI

T6_est58 Tenure: All; Household member has a self-care or independent 

living limitation AND Household income is greater than 30% but 

less than or equal to 50% of HAMFI

T6_est62 Tenure: All; Household member has a self-care or independent 

living limitation AND Household income is greater than 50% but 

less than or equal to 80% of HAMFI

T6_est66 Tenure: All; Household member has a self-care or independent 

living limitation AND Household income is greater than 80% of 

HAMFI

T6_est71 Tenure: All; Household member has none of the above limitations 

AND Household income is less than or equal to 30% of HAMFI

T6_est75 Tenure: All; Household member has none of the above limitations 

AND Household income is greater than 30% but less than or equal 

to 50% of HAMFI

T6_est79 Tenure: All; Household member has none of the above limitations 

AND Household income is greater than 50% but less than or equal 

to 80% of HAMFI

T6_est83 Tenure: All; Household member has none of the above limitations 

AND Household income is greater than 80% of HAMFI

T6_est89 Renter occupied; Household member has a hearing or vision 

impairment AND Household income is less than or equal to 30% of 

HAMFI
46 

T6_est93 Renter occupied; Household member has a hearing or vision 

impairment AND Household income is greater than 30% but less 

than or equal to 50% of HAMFI

T6_est97 Renter occupied; Household member has a hearing or vision 

impairment AND Household income is greater than 50% but less 

than or equal to 80% of HAMFI

T6_est101 Renter occupied; Household member has a hearing or vision 

impairment AND Household income is greater than 80% of HAMFI

T6_est106 Renter occupied; Household member has an ambulatory limitation 

AND Household income is less than or equal to 30% of HAMFI

T6_est110 Renter occupied; Household member has an ambulatory limitation 

AND Household income is greater than 30% but less than or equal 

to 50% of HAMFI

T6_est114 Renter occupied; Household member has an ambulatory limitation 

AND Household income is greater than 50% but less than or equal 

to 80% of HAMFI

T6_est118 Renter occupied; Household member has an ambulatory limitation 

AND Household income is greater than 80% of HAMFI

T6_est123 Renter occupied; Household member has a cognitive limitation 

AND Household income is less than or equal to 30% of HAMFI

T6_est127 Renter occupied; Household member has a cognitive limitation 

AND Household income is greater than 30% but less than or equal 

to 50% of HAMFI

T6_est131 Renter occupied; Household member has a cognitive limitation 

AND Household income is greater than 50% but less than or equal 

to 80% of HAMFI

T6_est135 Renter occupied; Household member has a cognitive limitation 

AND Household income is greater than 80% of HAMFI

T6_est140 Renter occupied; Household member has a self-care or 

independent living limitation AND Household income is less than or 

equal to 30% of HAMFI

T6_est144 Renter occupied; Household member has a self-care or 

independent living limitation AND Household income is greater 

than 30% but less than or equal to 50% of HAMFI

T6_est148 Renter occupied; Household member has a self-care or 

independent living limitation AND Household income is greater 

than 50% but less than or equal to 80% of HAMFI

T6_est152 Renter occupied; Household member has a self-care or 

independent living limitation AND Household income is greater 

than 80% of HAMFI

T6_est157 Renter occupied; Household member has none of the above 

limitations AND Household income is less than or equal to 30% of 

HAMFI

T6_est161 Renter occupied; Household member has none of the above 

limitations AND Household income is greater than 30% but less 

than or equal to 50% of HAMFI

T6_est165 Renter occupied; Household member has none of the above 

limitations AND Household income is greater than 50% but less 

than or equal to 80% of HAMFI

T6_est169 Renter occupied; Household member has none of the above 

limitations AND Household income is greater than 80% of HAMFI
47 

DISABLED HOUSEHOLD COUNT BY SEX BY AGE (TOTAL COUNT).XLSX

NOTE: this file is provided in six sheets, one for each level of geography (nation, state, county, place, PHA, and 

Project); for definitions relating to household disability status, refer to Appendix A

Variable Description

hhNation Indicator for United States (within 50 states, and District of 

Columbia, according to the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the 

HUD longitudinal file; reported in "Nation" worksheet only)

hhState State FIPS (using the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported in "State", "City", and "County" 

worksheets)

hhCounty County FIPS (using the unit_fips_cnty_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "County" worksheet)

hhPlace Place FIPS (using the unit_place_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "Place" worksheet)

hhPHA PHA code (using pha_cd from the HUD longitudinal file; reported 

only in "PHA" worksheet)

hhProj Project code (using proj_num for observations from TRACS data and 

dvlpt_num for observations from PIC data; reported only in "Proj" 

worksheet)

HUDProgCategory HUD Program Category (See Table 1 for how these are determined)

maleAgeBel5_DisTotalCount Total disabled males below age 5 (equals -1 if the total is less than 

10)

maleAge5to17_DisTotalCount Total disabled males age 5-17 (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAge18to34_DisTotalCount Total disabled males age 18-34 (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAge35to64_DisTotalCount Total disabled males age 35-64 (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAge65to74_DisTotalCount Total disabled males age 65-74 (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAge75Plus_DisTotalCount Total disabled males age 75 or higher (up to age 110) (equals -1 if 

the total is less than 10)

maleAgeOther_DisTotalCount Total disabled males of any other age (not reported or over age 

110) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAllAges_DisTotalCount Total disabled males of any age (including observations with 

erroneous age values below 0 or over 110, or that are blank) (equals 

-1 if the total is less than 10)

femaleAgeBel5_DisTotalCount Total disabled females below age 5 (equals -1 if the total is less

than 10)

femaleAge5to17_DisTotalCount Total disabled females age 5-17 (equals -1 if the total is less than 

10)

femaleAge18to34_DisTotalCount Total disabled females age 18-34 (equals -1 if the total is less than 

10)

femaleAge35to64_DisTotalCount Total disabled females age 35-64 (equals -1 if the total is less than 

10)

femaleAge65to74_DisTotalCount Total disabled females age 65-74 (equals -1 if the total is less than 

10)

femaleAge75Plus_DisTotalCount Total disabled females age 75 or higher (up to age 110) (equals -1 if 

the total is less than 10)
48 

femaleAgeOther_DisTotalCount Total disabled females of any other age (not reported or over age 

110) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

femaleAllAges_DisTotalCount Total disabled females of any age (including observations with 

erroneous age values below 0 or over 110, or that are blank) (equals 

-1 if the total is less than 10)

totalAgeBel5_DisTotalCount Total disabled persons below age 5 (equals -1 if the total is less 

than 10)

totalAge5to17_DisTotalCount Total disabled persons age 5-17 (equals -1 if the total is less than 

10)

totalAge18to34_DisTotalCount Total disabled persons age 18-34 (equals -1 if the total is less than 

10)

totalAge35to64_DisTotalCount Total disabled persons age 35-64 (equals -1 if the total is less than 

10)

totalAge65to74_DisTotalCount Total disabled persons age 65-74 (equals -1 if the total is less than 

10)

totalAge75Plus_DisTotalCount Total disabled persons age 75 or higher (up to age 110) (equals -1 if 

the total is less than 10)

totalAgeOther_DisTotalCount Total disabled persons of any other age (not reported or over age 

110) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

totalAllAges_DisTotalCount Total disabled persons of any age (including observations with 

erroneous age values below 0 or over 110, or that are blank) (equals 

-1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAgeBel5_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled male below age 5 

(equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAge5to17_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled male age 5-17 (equals -

1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAge18to34_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled male age 18-34 (equals 

-1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAge35to64_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled male age 35-64 (equals 

-1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAge65to74_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled male age 65-74 (equals 

-1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAge75Plus_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled male age 75 or higher 

(up to age 110) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAgeOther_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled male of any other age 

(not reported or over age 110) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

maleAllAges_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled male of any age 

(including observations with erroneous age values below 0 or over 

110, or that are blank) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

femaleAgeBel5_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled female below age 5 

(equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

femaleAge5to17_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled female age 5-17 (equals 

-1 if the total is less than 10)

femaleAge18to34_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled female age 18-34 

(equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

femaleAge35to64_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled female age 35-64 

(equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

femaleAge65to74_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled female age 65-74 

(equals -1 if the total is less than 10)
49 

femaleAge75Plus_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled female age 75 or higher 

(up to age 110) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

femaleAgeOther_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled female of any other age 

(not reported or over age 110) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

femaleAllAges_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled female of any age 

(including observations with erroneous age values below 0 or over 

110, or that are blank) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

totalAgeBel5_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled person below age 5 

(equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

totalAge5to17_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled person age 5-17 (equals 

-1 if the total is less than 10)

totalAge18to34_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled person age 18-34 

(equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

totalAge35to64_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled person age 35-64 

(equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

totalAge65to74_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled person age 65-74 

(equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

totalAge75Plus_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled person age 75 or higher 

(up to age 110) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

totalAgeOther_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled person of any other age 

(not reported or over age 110) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

totalAllAges_DisHHs Total households with at least one disabled person of any age 

(including observations with erroneous age values below 0 or over 

110, or that are blank) (equals -1 if the total is less than 10)

DISABLED HOUSEHOLD COUNT BY SEX BY AGE (PER ASSISTED UNIT).XLSX

NOTE: this file is provided in six sheets, one for each level of geography (nation, state, county, place, PHA, and 

Project); for definitions relating to household disability status, refer to Appendix A

Variable Description

hhNation Indicator for United States (within 50 states, and District of 

Columbia, according to the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the 

HUD longitudinal file; reported in "Nation" worksheet only)

hhState State FIPS (using the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported in "State", "City", and "County" 

worksheets)

hhCounty County FIPS (using the unit_fips_cnty_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "County" worksheet)

hhPlace Place FIPS (using the unit_place_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "Place" worksheet)

hhPHA PHA code (using pha_cd from the HUD longitudinal file; reported 

only in "PHA" worksheet)

hhProj Project code (using proj_num for observations from TRACS data and 

dvlpt_num for observations from PIC data; reported only in "Proj" 

worksheet)

HUDProgCategory HUD Program Category (See Table 1 for how these are determined)

maleAgeBel5_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled males below age 5 per assisted household (equals -1 

if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)
50 

maleAge5to17_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled males age 5-17 per assisted household (equals -1 if 

the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

maleAge18to34_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled males age 18-34 per assisted household (equals -1 if 

the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

maleAge35to64_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled males age 35-64 per assisted household (equals -1 if 

the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

maleAge65to74_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled males age 65-74 per assisted household (equals -1 if 

the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

maleAge75Plus_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled males age 75 or higher per assisted household (up to 

age 110) (equals -1 if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the 

numerator, is less than 10)

maleAgeOther_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled males of any other age (not reported or over age 

110) per assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of 

disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

maleAllAges_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled males of any age per assisted household (including 

observations with erroneous age values below 0 or over 110, or that 

are blank) (equals -1 if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the 

numerator, is less than 10)

femaleAgeBel5_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled females below age 5 per assisted household (equals -

1 if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

femaleAge5to17_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled females age 5-17 per assisted household (equals -1 if 

the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

femaleAge18to34_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled females age 18-34 per assisted household (equals -1 

if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

femaleAge35to64_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled females age 35-64 per assisted household (equals -1 

if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

femaleAge65to74_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled females age 65-74 per assisted household (equals -1 

if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

femaleAge75Plus_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled females age 75 or higher per assisted household (up 

to age 110) (equals -1 if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

femaleAgeOther_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled females of any other age (not reported or over age 

110) per assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of 

disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

femaleAllAges_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled females of any age per assisted household (including 

observations with erroneous age values below 0 or over 110, or that 

are blank) (equals -1 if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the 

numerator, is less than 10)

totalAgeBel5_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled persons below age 5 per assisted household (equals -

1 if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

totalAge5to17_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled persons age 5-17 per assisted household (equals -1 if 

the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 
51 

than 10)

totalAge18to34_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled persons age 18-34 per assisted household (equals -1 

if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

totalAge35to64_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled persons age 35-64 per assisted household (equals -1 

if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

totalAge65to74_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled persons age 65-74 per assisted household (equals -1 

if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less 

than 10)

totalAge75Plus_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled persons age 75 or higher per assisted household (up 

to age 110) (equals -1 if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

totalAgeOther_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled persons of any other age (not reported or over age 

110) per assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of 

disabled persons, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

totalAllAges_DisTotalCountPAU Total disabled persons of any age per assisted household (including 

observations with erroneous age values below 0 or over 110, or that 

are blank) (equals -1 if the total number of disabled persons, i.e. the 

numerator, is less than 10)

maleAgeBel5_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled male below age 5 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

maleAge5to17_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled male age 5-17 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

maleAge18to34_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled male age 18-34 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

maleAge35to64_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled male age 35-64 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

maleAge65to74_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled male age 65-74 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

maleAge75Plus_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled male age 75 or higher 

per assisted household (up to age 110) (equals -1 if the total 

number of households, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

maleAgeOther_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled male of any other age 

(not reported or over age 110) per assisted household (equals -1 if 

the total number of households, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

maleAllAges_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled male of any age per 

assisted household (including observations with erroneous age 

values below 0 or over 110, or that are blank) (equals -1 if the total 

number of households, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

femaleAgeBel5_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled female below age 5 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

femaleAge5to17_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled female age 5-17 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)
52 

femaleAge18to34_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled female age 18-34 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

femaleAge35to64_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled female age 35-64 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

femaleAge65to74_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled female age 65-74 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

femaleAge75Plus_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled female age 75 or higher 

per assisted household (up to age 110) (equals -1 if the total 

number of households, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

femaleAgeOther_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled female of any other age 

(not reported or over age 110) per assisted household (equals -1 if 

the total number of households, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

femaleAllAges_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled female of any age per 

assisted household (including observations with erroneous age 

values below 0 or over 110, or that are blank) (equals -1 if the total 

number of households, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

totalAgeBel5_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled person below age 5 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

totalAge5to17_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled person age 5-17 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

totalAge18to34_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled person age 18-34 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

totalAge35to64_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled person age 35-64 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

totalAge65to74_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled person age 65-74 per 

assisted household (equals -1 if the total number of households, i.e. 

the numerator, is less than 10)

totalAge75Plus_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled person age 75 or higher 

per assisted household (up to age 110) (equals -1 if the total 

number of households, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

totalAgeOther_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled person of any other age 

(not reported or over age 110) per assisted household (equals -1 if 

the total number of households, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

totalAllAges_DisHHsPAU Total households with at least one disabled person of any age per 

assisted household (including observations with erroneous age 

values below 0 or over 110, or that are blank) (equals -1 if the total 

number of households, i.e. the numerator, is less than 10)

DISABLED HOUSEHOLD COUNT BY HOUSEHOLD INCOME.XLSX

NOTE: this file is provided in six sheets, one for each level of geography (nation, state, county, place, PHA, and 

Project); for definitions relating to household disability status, refer to Appendix A

Variable Description

hhNation Indicator for United States (within 50 states, and District of 

Columbia, according to the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the 
53 

HUD longitudinal file; reported in "Nation" worksheet only)

hhState State FIPS (using the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported in "State", "City", and "County" 

worksheets)

hhCounty County FIPS (using the unit_fips_cnty_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "County" worksheet)

hhPlace Place FIPS (using the unit_place_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "Place" worksheet)

hhPHA PHA code (using pha_cd from the HUD longitudinal file; reported 

only in "PHA" worksheet)

hhProj Project code (using proj_num for observations from TRACS data and 

dvlpt_num for observations from PIC data; reported only in "Proj" 

worksheet)

HUDProgCategory HUD Program Category (See Table 1 for how these are determined)

totalDisabledCount Total number of HUD-assisted households with at least one disabled 

person (equals -1 if value is less than 10)

L30_DisHHs Total number of HUD-assisted households with at least one disabled 

person, for which household income is less than or equal to 30% of 

HAMFI (i.e. total_annl_incm_amnt ≤ ext_low_inc_lmt_amnt, or 

ext_low_inc_lmt_indr equals “Y”, within the HUD longitudinal file) 

(equals -1 if value is less than 10)

L50ButNotL30_DisHHs Total number of HUD-assisted households with at least one disabled 

person, for which household income is greater than 30 percent, but 

less than or equal to 50%, of HAMFI (i.e. ext_low_inc_lmt_amnt < 

total_annl_incm_amnt ≤ very_low_inc_lmt_amnt, or 

[very_low_inc_lmt_indr equals “Y” and ext_low_inc_lmt_indr does 

not equal “Y”], within the HUD longitudinal file) (equals -1 if value is 

less than 10)

L80ButNotL50_DisHHs Total number of HUD-assisted households with at least one disabled 

person, for which household income is greater than 50 percent, but 

less than or equal to 80%, of HAMFI (i.e. very_low_inc_lmt_amnt < 

total_annl_incm_amnt ≤ low_inc_lmt_amnt, within the HUD 

longitudinal file) (equals -1 if value is less than 10)

aboveL80_DisHHs Total number of HUD-assisted households with at least one disabled 

person, for which household income is greater than or equal to 80 

percent of HAMFI (i.e. total_annl_incm_amnt > low_inc_lmt_amnt 

or no income information is given, within the HUD longitudinal file) 

(equals -1 if value is less than 10)

DISABILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF PUBLIC HOUSING RESIDENTS.XLSX

NOTE: this file is provided in six sheets, one for each level of geography (nation, state, county, place, PHA, and 

Project); for definitions relating to household disability status, refer to Appendix A

Variable Description

hhNation Indicator for United States (within 50 states, and District of 

Columbia; reported in "Nation" worksheet only)

hhState State FIPS (using unit_fips_state_cd from HUD longitudinal file; 

reported in "State", "City", and "County" worksheets)

hhCounty County FIPS (using unit_fips_cnty_cd from HUD longitudinal file; 

reported only in "County" worksheet)
54 

hhPlace Place FIPS (using the unit_place_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "Place" worksheet)

hhPHA PHA code (using pha_cd from HUD longitudinal file; reported only in 

"PHA" worksheet)

hhProj Project code (using proj_num for TRACS observations and 

dvlpt_num from 50058/MTW observations from HUD longitudinal 

file; reported only in "Proj" worksheet)

totDisabledPerPHHH Number of disabled persons per public housing househehold 

(calculated as the summation of disabled individuals contained in all 

public housing households, divided by the total number of public 

housing households) (equals -1 if total number of units, i.e. the 

denominator, is less than 10)

totalDisabledHHs Number of public housing households with at least one disabled 

person (i.e. the sum of public housing households (determined 

using the methods outlined under variable totalPHObs)) with at 

least one disabled person) (equals -1 if value is less than 10)

pctTotalDisabledHHs Percent of public housing households with at least one disabled 

person (equals -1 if the numerator is less than 10)

reqstdAccssbltFtrs_Dis Number of public housing households with at least one disabled 

person requesting disability features (tallying the total number of 

households for which either 1) acsblty_rqstd_indr equals “Y” or 2) 

acsblty_rcvd_indr equals “1” through “6” (i.e. does not equal 0, nor 

is blank), within the HUD longitudinal file (equals -1 if value is less 

than 10)

reqstdAccssbltFtrs_NoDis Number of public housing households with no disabled persons 

requesting disability features (determined using the method 

previously outlined for the preceding variable, 

reqstdAccssbltFtrs_Dis), within the HUD longitudinal file (equals -1 if 

value is less than 10)

pctReqstdAccssbltFtrs_Dis Percent of public housing households with at least one disabled 

person requesting disability features (reqstdAccssbltFtrs_Dis times 

100 divided by reqstdAccssbltFtrs_Dis plus 

reqstdAccssbltFtrs_NoDis) (equals -1 if numerator is less than 10)

recvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis Number of public housing households with at least one disabled 

person receiving disability features (tallying the total number of 

households for which acsblty_rcvd_indr equals “1” or “2” [i.e. the 

household fully - “1” - or partially - “2” - received accessibility 

features that were requested]), within the HUD longitudinal file 

(equals -1 if value is less than 10)

recvdAccssbltFtrs_NoDis Number of public housing households with no disabled persons 

receiving disability features (determined using the method 

previously outlined for the preceding variable, 

recvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis), within the HUD longitudinal file (equals -1 if 

value is less than 10)

pctRecvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis Percent of public housing households with at least one disabled 

person receiving disability features (recvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis times 100 

divided by recvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis plus recvdAccssbltFtrs_NoDis) 

(equals -1 if numerator is less than 10)

reqstdAndRecvd_Dis Number of public housing households 1) with at least one disabled 

person and 2) which requested accessibility features, which 

ultimately received them
55 

reqstdAndRecvd_NoDis Number of public housing households 1) with no disabled persons 

and 2) which requested accessibility features, which ultimately 

received them

pctReqstdAndRecvd_Dis Percent of public housing households 1) with at least one disabled 

person and 2) which requested accessibility features, which 

ultimately received them

pctReqstdAndRecvd_NoDis Percent of public housing households 1) with no disabled persons 

and 2) which requested accessibility features, which ultimately 

received them

totalPHObs Total public housing households (defined as households for which 

the variable “pgm_type_cd” equals “P” and which, while not 

labeled with pgm_type_cd “P”, share a property_id value with a 

household which does have a pgm_type_cd of “P”) (equals -1 if 

value is less than 10)

pctDisHHsWithAccssbltyFtrs Percent of public housing households with at least one disabled 

person receiving housing units with disability features (The value 

from recvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis multiplied by 100, then divided by 

totalDisabledHHs) (equals -1 if either value in numerator, i.e.

recvdAccssbltFtrs_Dis, or the value in the denominator, i.e. the 

number of units, is less than 10; is blank if the total number of 

public housing households equals 0)

DISABILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTS.XLSX

NOTE: this file is provided in six sheets, one for each level of geography (nation, state, county, place, PHA, and 

Project); for definitions relating to household disability status, refer to Appendix A

Variable Description

hhNation Indicator for United States (within 50 states, and District of 

Columbia, according to the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the 

HUD longitudinal file; reported in "Nation" worksheet only)

hhState State FIPS (using the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported in "State", "City", and "County" 

worksheets)

hhCounty County FIPS (using the unit_fips_cnty_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "County" worksheet)

hhPlace Place FIPS (using the unit_place_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "Place" worksheet)

hhPHA PHA code (using pha_cd from the HUD longitudinal file; reported 

only in "PHA" worksheet)

hhProj Project code (using proj_num for observations from TRACS data and 

dvlpt_num for observations from PIC data; reported only in "Proj" 

worksheet)

totalMFunits Total multifamily households (defined as all HUD-assisted 

households designated, following the procedure outlined in Table 1,

for the following HUD program categories: Section 202, Section 811, 

Section 236, multifamily programs breaking out Section 8, and “all 

other”) (equals -1 if value is less than 10)

totDisabledPerMFHH Number of disabled persons per multifamily household (i.e. the 

variable totalDisabledHHs, divided by the variable totalMFunits) 

(equals -1 if number of units, i.e. the denominator, is less than 10; is 

blank if the total number of multifamily units is 0)
56 

totalDisabledHHs Number of households living in multifamily properties with at least 

one disabled person (the sum of multifamily households 

(determined using the methods outlined under variable 

totalMFunits) with at least one disabled person) (equals -1 if value is 

less than 10)

pctDisabledHHs Percent of multifamily households with at least one disabled person 

(the sum of multifamily households (totalDisabledHHs times 100, 

divided by totalMFunits) (equals -1 if numerator is less than 10)

totalDisHHs_EldrlyDisbld Number of households with at least one disabled person living in 

multifamily properties designated for the elderly and disabled 

(calculated using method outlined under the variable 

totalDisabledHHs, restricted to households in properties denoted 

with the "eldrly_disabled_indicator" variable in the iREMS 

dbo_owner_survey file) (equals -1 if value is less than 10)

totalDisHHs_DisbldExclsv Number of households with at least one disabled person living in 

multifamily properties designated for the disabled exclusively 

(calculated using method outlined under the variable 

totalDisabledHHs, restricted to households in properties denoted 

with the "exclusive_disabled_indicator" variable in the iREMS 

dbo_owner_survey file) (equals -1 if value is less than 10)

totalDisHHs_ChrncMentlIll Number of households with at least one disabled person living in 

multifamily properties designated for the chronically mentally ill 

(calculated using method outlined under the variable 

totalDisabledHHs, restricted to households in properties denoted 

with the "chronically_mentally_ill_ind" variable in the iREMS 

dbo_client_group_occupancy_detail file) (equals -1 if value is less 

than 10)

totalDisHHs_PhysDisbld Number of households with at least one disabled person living in 

multifamily properties designated for the physically disabled 

(calculated using method outlined under the variable 

totalDisabledHHs, restricted to households in properties denoted 

with the "mobility_impairment_ind" or "other_impairment_ind" 

variable in the iREMS dbo_client_group_occupancy_detail file) 

(equals -1 if value is less than 10)

totalDisHHs_DvlpmtDisbld Number of households with at least one disabled person living in 

multifamily properties designated for the developmentally disabled 

(calculated using method outlined under the variable 

totalDisabledHHs, restricted to households in properties denoted 

with the "developmentally_disabled_ind" variable in the iREMS 

dbo_client_group_occupancy_detail file) (equals -1 if value is less 

than 10)

totalDisHHs_HIV Number of households with at least one disabled person living in 

multifamily properties designated for persons with HIV (calculated 

using method outlined under the variable totalDisabledHHs, 

restricted to households in properties denoted with the "hiv_ind" 

variable in the iREMS dbo_client_group_occupancy_detail file) 

(equals -1 if value is less than 10)

pctDisHHs_EldrlyDisbld Percent of households with at least one disabled person residing in 

multifamily properties designated for the elderly and disabled (i.e. 

the variable totalDisHHs_EldrlyDisbld, multiplied by 100, divided by 

the total number of households residing in units designated for the 

elderly and disabled) (equals -1 if totalDisHHs_EldrlyDisbld is less 
57 

than 10; is blank if total occupied units designated for designated 

group equals 0)

pctDisHHs_DisbldExclsv Percent of households with at least one disabled person residing in 

multifamily properties designated for the disabled exclusively (i.e. 

the variable totalDisHHs_DisbldExclsv, multiplied by 100, divided by 

the total number of households residing in units designated for the 

disabled exclusively) (equals -1 if totalDisHHs_DisbldExclsv is less 

than 10; is blank if total occupied units designated for designated 

group equals 0)

pctDisHHs_ChrncMentlIll Percent of households with at least one disabled person residing in 

multifamily properties designated for the chronically mentally ill 

(i.e. the variable totalDisHHs_ChrncMentlIll, multiplied by 100, 

divided by the total number of households residing in units 

designated for the chronically mentally ill) (equals -1 if 

totalDisHHs_ChrncMentlIll is less than 10; is blank if total occupied 

units designated for designated group equals 0)

pctDisHHs_PhysDisbld Percent of households with at least one disabled person residing in 

multifamily properties designated for the physically disabled (i.e. 

the variable totalDisHHs_PhysDisbld, multiplied by 100, divided by 

the total number of households residing in units designated for the 

physically disabled) (equals -1 if totalDisHHs_PhysDisbld is less than 

10; is blank if total occupied units designated for designated group 

equals 0)

pctDisHHs_DvlpmtDisbld Percent of households with at least one disabled person residing in 

multifamily properties designated for the developmentally disabled 

(i.e. the variable totalDisHHs_DvlpmtDisbld, multiplied by 100, 

divided by the total number of households residing in units 

designated for the developmentally disabled) (equals -1 if 

totalDisHHs_DvlpmtDisbld is less than 10; is blank if total occupied 

units designated for designated group equals 0)

pctDisHHs_HIV Percent of households with at least one disabled person residing in 

multifamily properties designated for persons with HIV (i.e. the 

variable totalDisHHs_HIV, multiplied by 100, divided by the total 

number of households residing in units designated for persons with 

HIV) (equals -1 if totalDisHHs_HIV is less than 10; is blank if total 

occupied units designated for designated group equals 0)

ACCESSIBLE UNIT COUNT BY NUMBER OF BEDROOMS.XLSX

NOTE: this file is provided in six sheets, one for each level of geography (nation, state, county, place, PHA, and 

Project)

hhNation Indicator for United States (within 50 states, and District of 

Columbia, according to the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the 

HUD longitudinal file; reported in "Nation" worksheet only)

hhState State FIPS (using the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported in "State", "City", and "County" 

worksheets)

hhCounty County FIPS (using the unit_fips_cnty_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "County" worksheet)
58 

hhPlace Place FIPS (using the unit_place_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "Place" worksheet)

hhPHA PHA code (using pha_cd from the HUD longitudinal file; reported 

only in "PHA" worksheet)

hhProj Project code (using proj_num for observations from TRACS data and 

dvlpt_num for observations from PIC data; reported only in "Proj" 

worksheet)

accessibleUnits_0to1Br The number of assisted households with 0 or 1 bedrooms inhabiting 

either 1) a public housing unit which is denoted as accessible (i.e. 

for which acsbl_unit_indr equals "Y"), or 2) a multifamily property 

with features designated for the elderly+disabled, disabled 

exclusively, the chronically mentally ill, the physically disabled, the 

developmentally disabled, or persons with HIV (according to the 

indicators in iREMS) (equals -1 if value is less than 10)

accessibleUnits_2Br The number of assisted households with 2 bedrooms inhabiting 

either 1) a public housing unit which is denoted as accessible (i.e. 

for which acsbl_unit_indr equals "Y"), or 2) a multifamily property 

with features designated for the elderly+disabled, disabled 

exclusively, the chronically mentally ill, the physically disabled, the 

developmentally disabled, or persons with HIV (according to the 

indicators in iREMS) (equals -1 if value is less than 10)

accessibleUnits_3Br The number of assisted households with 3 bedrooms inhabiting 

either 1) a public housing unit which is denoted as accessible (i.e. 

for which acsbl_unit_indr equals "Y"), or 2) a multifamily property 

with features designated for the elderly+disabled, disabled 

exclusively, the chronically mentally ill, the physically disabled, the 

developmentally disabled, or persons with HIV (according to the 

indicators in iREMS) (equals -1 if value is less than 10)

accessibleUnits_4plusBr The number of assisted households with 4 or more bedrooms 

inhabiting either 1) a public housing unit which is denoted as 

accessible (i.e. for which acsbl_unit_indr equals "Y"), or 2) a 

multifamily property with features designated for the 

elderly+disabled, disabled exclusively, the chronically mentally ill, 

the physically disabled, the developmentally disabled, or persons 

with HIV (according to the indicators in iREMS) (equals -1 if value is 

less than 10)

UNAIDED INVENTORY.XLSX

NOTE: this file is provided in four sheets, one for each level of geography (nation, state, county, and place); for 

definitions relating to household disability status, refer to Appendix A

hhNation Indicator for United States (within 50 states, and District of 

Columbia, according to the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the 

HUD longitudinal file; reported in "Nation" worksheet only)

hhState State FIPS (using the unit_fips_state_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported in "State", "City", and "County" 

worksheets)

hhCounty County FIPS (using the unit_fips_cnty_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "County" worksheet)

hhPlace Place FIPS (using the unit_place_cd variable from the HUD 

longitudinal file; reported only in "Place" worksheet)
59 

disHHsL30 Number of total disabled households, for which household income 

is less than or equal to 30% of HAMFI (estimated by subtracting the 

number of non-disabled households in this income group [as 

identified from the variable T6_est71 in Table 6 of the CHAS, 2008-

2010 data] from the number of total households [as identified from 

the sum of variables t16_est3 and t16_est88 from Table 16 of CHAS, 

2006-2010 data]) 

disHHsL50 Number of total disabled households, for which household income 

is greater than 30%, but less than 50%, of HAMFI (estimated by 

subtracting the number of non-disabled households in this income 

group [as identified from the variable T6_est75 in Table 6 of the 

CHAS, 2008-2010 data] from the number of total households [as 

identified from the sum of variables t16_est24 and t16_est109 from 

Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

disHHsL80 Number of total disabled households, for which household income 

is greater than 50%, but less than 80%, of HAMFI (estimated by 

subtracting the number of non-disabled households in this income 

group [as identified from the variable T6_est79 in Table 6 of the 

CHAS, 2008-2010 data] from the number of total households [as 

identified from the sum of variables t16_est45 and t16_est130 from 

Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

disHHsOverL80 Number of total disabled households, for which household income 

is greater than 80% of HAMFI (estimated by subtracting the number 

of non-disabled households in this income group [as identified from 

the variable T6_est83 in Table 6 of the CHAS, 2008-2010 data] from 

the number of total households [as identified from the sum of 

variables t16_est66 and t16_est151 from Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-

2010 data])

disHHsAll The sum of variable disHHsL30, disHHsL50, disHHsL80, 

disHHsOverL80

pctDisHHsL30 Percent of total households, among which household income is less 

than or equal to 30% of HAMFI, which are disabled (estimated by 

multiplying 100 by disHHsL30, then dividing by the number of total 

households in this income group [t16_est3 + t16_est88 from Table 

16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

pctDisHHsL50 Percent of total households, among which household income is 

greater than 30% but less than or equal to 50% of HAMFI, which are 

disabled (estimated by multiplying 100 by disHHsL50, then dividing 

by the number of total households in this income group [t16_est24 

+ t16_est109 from Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

pctDisHHsL80 Percent of total households, among which household income is 

greater than 50% but less than or equal to 80% of HAMFI, which are 

disabled (estimated by multiplying 100 by disHHsL80, then dividing 

by the number of total households in this income group [t16_est45 

+ t16_est130 from Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

pctDisHHsOverL80 Percent of total households, among which household income is 

greater than 80% of HAMFI, which are disabled (estimated by 

multiplying 100 by disHHsLOverL80, then dividing by the number of 

total households in this income group [t16_est66 + t16_est151 from 

Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

AllHHs The count of all households (t16_est1 from Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-

2010 data)
60 

pctDisHHsAll disHHsAll, times 100, divided by the number of total households 

(t16_est1) 

disRentersL30 Number of total disabled, renting households, for which household 

income is less than or equal to 30% of HAMFI (estimated by 

subtracting the number of non-disabled, renting households in this 

income group [as identified from the variable T6_est157 in Table 6 

of the CHAS, 2008-2010 data] from the number of total renting 

households [as identified from the variablet16_est88 from Table 16 

of CHAS, 2006-2010 data]) 

disRentersL50 Number of total disabled, renting households, for which household 

income is greater than 30%, but less than 50%, of HAMFI (estimated 

by subtracting the number of non-disabled, renting households in 

this income group [as identified from the variable T6_est161 in 

Table 6 of the CHAS, 2008-2010 data] from the number of total 

renting households [as identified from the variable t16_est109 from 

Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

disRentersL80 Number of total disabled, renting households, for which household 

income is greater than 50%, but less than 80%, of HAMFI (estimated 

by subtracting the number of non-disabled, renting households in 

this income group [as identified from the variable T6_est165 in 

Table 6 of the CHAS, 2008-2010 data] from the number of total 

renting households [as identified from the variable t16_est130 from 

Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

disRentersOverL80 Number of total disabled, renting households, for which household 

income is greater than 80% of HAMFI (estimated by subtracting the 

number of non-disabled, renting households in this income group 

[as identified from the variable T6_est169 in Table 6 of the CHAS, 

2008-2010 data] from the number of total renting households [as 

identified from the variable t16_est151 from Table 16 of CHAS, 

2006-2010 data])

disRentersAll The sum of variable disRentersL30, disRentersL50, disRentersL80, 

disRentersOverL80

pctDisRentersL30 Percent of total renting households, among which household 

income is less than or equal to 30% of HAMFI, which are disabled 

(estimated by multiplying 100 by disRentersL30, then dividing by 

the number of total renting households this income group 

[t16_est88 from Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

pctDisRentersL50 Percent of total renting households, among which household 

income is greater than 30% but less than or equal to 50% of HAMFI,

which are disabled (estimated by multiplying 100 by disRentersL50, 

then dividing by the number of total renting households this income 

group [t16_est109 from Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

pctDisRentersL80 Percent of total renting households, among which household 

income is greater than 50% but less than or equal to 80% of HAMFI, 

which are disabled (estimated by multiplying 100 by disRentersL80, 

then dividing by the number of total renting households this income 

group [t16_est130 from Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])

pctDisRentersOverL80 Percent of total renting households, among which household 

income is greater than 80% of HAMFI, which are disabled 

(estimated by multiplying 100 by disRentersLOverL80, then dividing 

by the number of total renting households this income group 

[t16_est151 from Table 16 of CHAS, 2006-2010 data])
61 

AllRenters The count of all households (t16_est87 from Table 16 of CHAS, 

2006-2010 data)

pctDisRentersAll disRentersAll, times 100, divided by the number of total households 

(t16_est87) 

unaidedDisHHsL30 disHHsL30 minus L30_DisHHs (provided from file "disabled 

household count by household income.xlsx") (equals -1 if 

L30_DisHHs is less than 10)

unaidedDisHHsL50 disHHsL50 minus L50ButNotL30_DisHHs (provided from file 

"disabled household count by household income.xlsx") (equals -1 if 

L50ButNotL30_DisHHs is less than 10)

unaidedDisHHsL80 disHHsL80 minus L80ButNotL50_DisHHs (provided from file 

"disabled household count by household income.xlsx") (equals -1 if 

L80ButNotL50_DisHHs is less than 10)

unaidedDisHHsOverL80 disHHsOverL80 minus aboveL80_DisHHs (provided from file 

"disabled household count by household income.xlsx") (equals -1 if 

aboveL80_DisHHs is less than 10)

unaidedDisHHsAll The sum of variable unaidedHHsL30, unaidedHHsL50, 

unaidedHHsL80, unaidedHHsOverL80 (equals -1 if only one of the 

following is equal to -1: unaidedDisHHsL30, unaidedDisHHsL50, 

unaidedDisHHsL80, unaidedDisHHsOverL80)

pctUnaidedDisHHsL30 unaidedDisHHsL30, times 100, divided by total household count for 

this income group

pctUnaidedDisHHsL50 unaidedDisHHsL50, times 100, divided by total household count for 

this income group

pctUnaidedDisHHsL80 unaidedDisHHsL80, times 100, divided by total household count for 

this income group

pctUnaidedDisHHsOverL80 unaidedDisHHsOverL80, times 100, divided by total household 

count for this income group

pctUnaidedDisHHsAll unaidedDisHHsAll, times 100, divided by total household count

unaidedDisRentersL30 disRentersL30 minus L30_DisHHs (provided from file "disabled 

household count by household income.xlsx") (equals -1 if 

L30_DisHHs is less than 10)

unaidedDisRentersL50 disRentersL50 minus L50ButNotL30_DisHHs (provided from file 

"disabled household count by household income.xlsx") (equals -1 if 

L50ButNotL30_DisHHs is less than 10)

unaidedDisRentersL80 disRentersL80 minus L80ButNotL50_DisHHs (provided from file 

"disabled household count by household income.xlsx") (equals -1 if 

L80ButNotL50_DisHHs is less than 10)

unaidedDisRentersOverL80 disRentersOverL80 minus aboveL80_DisHHs (provided from file 

"disabled household count by household income.xlsx") (equals -1 if 

aboveL80_DisHHs is less than 10)

unaidedDisRentersAll The sum of variable unaidedRentersL30, unaidedRentersL50, 

unaidedRentersL80, unaidedRentersOverL80 (equals -1 if only one 

of the following is equal to -1: unaidedDisRentersL30, 

unaidedDisRentersL50, unaidedDisRentersL80, 

unaidedDisRentersOverL80)

pctUnaidedDisRentersL30 unaidedDisRentersL30, times 100, divided by total household count 

for this income group

pctUnaidedDisRentersL50 unaidedDisRentersL50, times 100, divided by total renting 

household count for this income group
62 

pctUnaidedDisRentersL80 unaidedDisRentersL80, times 100, divided by total renting 

household count for this income group

pctUnaidedDisRentersOverL80 unaidedDisRentersOverL80, times 100, divided by total renting 

household count for this income group

pctUnaidedDisRentersAll unaidedDisRentersAll, times 100, divided by total renting household 

count

pctDisHHsUnaidedL30 unaidedDisHHsL30, times 100, divided by disHHsL30

pctDisHHsUnaidedL50 unaidedDisHHsL50, times 100, divided by disHHsL50

pctDisHHsUnaidedL80 unaidedDisHHsL80, times 100, divided by disHHsL80

pctDisHHsUnaidedOverL80 unaidedDisHHsOverL80, times 100, divided by disHHsOverL80

pctDisHHsUnaidedAll unaidedDisHHsAll, times 100, divided by disHHsAll

pctDisRentersUnaidedL30 unaidedDisRentersL30, times 100, divided by disRentersL30

pctDisRentersUnaidedL50 unaidedDisRentersL50, times 100, divided by disRentersL50

pctDisRentersUnaidedL80 unaidedDisRentersL80, times 100, divided by disRentersL80

pctDisRentersUnaidedOverL80 unaidedDisRentersOverL80, times 100, divided by 

disRentersOverL80

pctDisRentersUnaidedAll unaidedDisRentersAll, times 100, divided by disRentersAll

pctDisVoucherHHsInDesigOrMs Percent of disabled HUD-assisted household in one of the five 

housing voucher programs (tenant-based/other, project-based, 

homeownership, designated, mainstream), whose voucher is either 

part of the Designated or Mainstream voucher program (equals -1 

if numerator is less than 10)

pctDisMFHHsInDisProperty Percent of disabled HUD-assisted, households in a multifamily 

property living within a multifamily property with disability features 

(as indicated from iREMS) for the elderly+disabled, the disabled 

exclusively, the chronically mentally ill, the physically disabled, the 

developmentally disabled, or persons with HIV (equals -1 if 

numerator is less than 10)

pctDisPHHHsInAccblUnt Percent of disabled HUD-assisted, public housing households living 

within a designated accessible unit (i.e. for which acsbl_unit_indr 

equals "Y" in the HUD longitudinal data) (equals -1 if numerator is 

less than 10)