DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04591.v1
title: American Housing Survey, 2003: National Microdata
title: Version 1

description: This data collection provides information on the
 characteristics of a national sample of housing units, including
 apartments, single-family homes, mobile homes, and vacant housing
 units. Unlike previous years, the data are presented in eight separate
 parts: Part 1, Work Done Record (Replacement or Additions 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, 2003, included with
this collection.
description: The 2003 national data are from a sample of housing units
 interviewed between late May and mid-September 2003. The same basic
 sample of housing units is interviewed every two years until a new
 sample is selected. The United States Census Bureau updated the sample
 by adding newly constructed housing units and units discovered through
 coverage improvement efforts. For the 2003 American Housing Survey
 National (AHS-N), approximately 63,300 sample housing units were
 selected for interview. About 2,250 of these units were found to be
 ineligible because the unit no longer existed or because the units did
 not meet the AHS-N definition of a housing unit. Of the 61,050
 eligible sample units, about 5,650 were classified (both occupied and
 vacant housing units) as "Type A" noninterviews because (a) no one was
 at home after repeated visits, (b) the respondent refused to be
 interviewed, or (c) the interviewer was unable to find the unit. This
 classification produced an unweighted overall response rate of 91
 percent. The weighted overall response rate was 92 percent. The AHS
 sample consists of the following types of units in the sampled primary
 sampling units: housing units selected from the 1980 Census, new
 construction in areas requiring building permits, housing units missed
 in the 1980 Census, and other housing units added since the 1980
 Census. For more information about sample design, please see Appendix
B in CURRENT HOUSING REPORTS, 2003, included with this collection.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Work Done Record (Replacement or Additions 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 in the United States.
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI)(1) Beginning 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). (2) Beginning with 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. (3) Additional information
 about the American Housing Survey can be found at the
 HUD USER Web
 site
 and the
 United
States Census Bureau Web site