DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03204.v2
title: American Housing Survey, 1999: 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 ten 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, Ratio
 Verification, Part 8, Mover Group Record, Part 9, Recodes (One Record
 per Housing Unit), and Part 10, 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 "Sample Status, Weights, Interview Status"
 section in the ICPSR codebook for this American Housing Survey study,
 as well as Appendix B in CURRENT HOUSING REPORTS, 1999, included with
this collection.
description: The 1999 national data are from a sample of housing units
 interviewed between August and November 1999. The same basic sample of
 housing units is interviewed every two years until a new sample is
 selected. The Census Bureau updated the sample by adding newly
 constructed housing units and units discovered through coverage
 improvement efforts every enumeration. For the 1999 American Housing
 Survey-National (AHS-N), approximately 60,700 sample housing units
 were selected for interview. About 2,300 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 58,400
 eligible sample units, about 5,800 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 a 90-percent overall response rate. 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, 1999, 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: Ratio Verification
DS8: Mover Group Record
DS9: Recodes (One Record per Housing Unit)
DS10: 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 ten 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) The interview dates in the data file are not consistent with the
 dates listed under National Sample Design: Sample Size in Appendix B
 of CURRENT HOUSING REPORTS, 1999, included with this collection. (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