DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02912.v2
title: American Housing Survey, 1997: National Microdata
title: Version 2

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 nine separate
 parts: Part 1, Work Done Record (Replacement or Additions to the
 House), Part 2, Housing Unit Record (Main Record), Part 3, Worker
 Record, Part 4, Mortgages (Owners Only), Part 5, Manager and Owner
 Record (Renters Only), Part 6, Person Record, Part 7, Mover Group
 Record, Part 8, Recodes (One Record per Housing Unit), and Part 9,
 Weights. 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 Weighting Information located in the ICPSR
 codebook for this American Housing Survey study, as well as Appendix B
in CURRENT HOUSING REPORTS, 1997, included with this collection.
description: The 1997 national data are from a sample of housing units
 interviewed between August and November 1997. The same basic sample of
 housing units is interviewed every two years until a new sample is
 selected. The sample was updated by adding newly constructed housing
 units and units discovered through coverage improvement efforts every
 enumeration. For the 1997 American Housing Survey-National sample
 (AHS-N), approximately 53,100 sample housing units were selected for
 interview. About 2,200 of these units were found to be ineligible
 because the unit no longer existed or because the unit did not meet
 the definition of a housing unit. Of the 50,900 eligible sample units
 (both occupied and vacant housing units), about 5,000 were classified
 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 produced a
 90-percent overall response rate. The American Housing Survey 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, 1997, included with this collection.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Work Done Record (Replacement or Additions to the House)
DS2: Housing Unit Record (Main Record)
DS3: Worker Record
DS4: Mortgages (Owners Only)
DS5: Manager and Owner Record (Renters Only)
DS6: Person Record
DS7: Mover Group Record
DS8: Recodes (One Record per Housing Unit)
DS9: Weights
description: Housing units in the United States.
description: (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 nine 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 this collection. (2) Additional information about the
 American Housing Survey can be found at the
 HUD USER Web site
 and the
 U.S.
Census Bureau Web site