DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04592.v1
title: American Housing Survey, 2004: Metropolitan Microdata
title: Version 1

description: The metropolitan survey is conducted in even-numbered
years, cycling through a set of 41 metropolitan areas, surveying each
one about once every six years. This data collection provides
information on the characteristics of a metropolitan sample of housing
units, including apartments, single-family homes, mobile homes, and
vacant housing units. The data are presented in eight separate parts:
Part 1, Work Done Record (Replacement or Addition to the House), Part
2, Worker Record, Part 3, Mortgages (Owners Only), Part 4, Housing
Unit Record (Main Record), Recodes (One Record per Housing Unit), and
Weights, Part 5, Manager and Owner Record (Renters Only), Part 6,
Person Record, Part 7, Ratio Verification, and Part 8, Mover Group
Record. Data include year the structure was built, type and number of
living quarters, occupancy status, access, number of rooms, presence
of commercial establishments on the property, and property value.
Additional data focus on kitchen and plumbing facilities, types
of heating fuel used, source of water, sewage disposal, heating and
air-conditioning equipment, and major additions, alterations, or
repairs to the property. Information provided on housing expenses
includes monthly mortgage or rent payments, cost of services such as
utilities, garbage collection, and property insurance, and amount of
real estate taxes paid in the previous year. Also included is
information on whether the household received government assistance to
help pay heating or cooling costs or for other energy-related
services. Similar data are provided for housing units previously
occupied by respondents who had recently moved. Additionally,
indicators of housing and neighborhood quality are supplied. Housing
quality variables include privacy of bedrooms, condition of kitchen
facilities, basement or roof leakage, breakdowns of plumbing
facilities and equipment, and overall opinion of the structure. For
quality of neighborhood, variables include use of exterminator
services, existence of boarded-up buildings, and overall quality of
the neighborhood. In addition to housing characteristics, some
demographic data are provided on household members, such as age, sex,
race, marital status, income, and relationship to householder.
Additional data provided on the householder include years of school
completed, Spanish origin, length of residence, and length of
occupancy.
description: Please review the "Sample Status, Weights, Interview Status"
section in the ICPSR codebook for this American Housing Survey, as
well as Appendix B in CURRENT HOUSING REPORTS, 2004, for each
metropolitan area sampled, which is included with this collection.
description: For more information about sampling, please see Appendix B
in CURRENT HOUSING REPORTS, 2004, for each metropolitan area sampled,
which is included with this collection.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Work Done Record (Replacement or Addition to the House)
DS2: Worker Record
DS3: Mortgages (Owners Only)
DS4: Housing Unit Record (Main Record), Recodes (One Record per Housing Unit), and Weights
DS5: Manager and Owner Record (Renters Only)
DS6: Person Record
DS7: Ratio Verification
DS8: Mover Group Record
description: Housing units among 13 metropolitan areas, most of which
are consistent with the 1993 Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
definition of a metropolitan statistical area (MSA), consolidated
metropolitan statistical area (CMSA), or primary metropolitan
statistical area (PMSA), in the United States.
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI); computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI); telephone interviewBeginning in 1997, the methods of collecting and
processing American Housing Survey (AHS) data were redesigned. All
interviews are conducted using computer-assisted personal interviewing
(CAPI) software, allowing new responses to some questions. Rather than
existing as a single file, this collection consists of eight parts
each containing data pertaining to a specific subject matter. In
addition, data for building and neighborhood questions ceased to be
collected through interviewer observation. Rather, these questions
have been reworded for the respondents. Due to these changes, users
are asked to use caution when comparing data prior to 1997 with data
from 1997 forward. For further information about the redesign, please
refer to DOCUMENTATION OF CHANGES IN THE 1997 AMERICAN HOUSING SURVEY
included with AMERICAN HOUSING SURVEY, 1997: NATIONAL MICRODATA (ICPSR
2912).Beginning in 2001, three datasets: Part 2, Housing Unit
Record (Main Record), Part 9, Recodes (One Record per Housing Unit),
and Part 10, Weights, have been combined into one dataset: Part 4,
Housing Unit Record (Main Record), Recodes (One Record per Housing
Unit), and Weights.The interview dates in the data file are not
consistent with the dates listed under Interview Schedules in Appendix
B of CURRENT HOUSING REPORTS, 2004, included with this collection.Additional information about the American Housing Survey can be found
at the HUD USER Web
site
and the 
U.S. Census Bureau Web site.