DOI: 10.3886/icpsr23563.v1
title: American Housing Survey, 2007: 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 seven separate parts: Part 1, Work Done Record (Replacement or Additions to the House), Part 2, Journey to Work 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, 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 study, as well as Appendix B in CURRENT HOUSING REPORTS, 2007, included with this collection.
description: The 2007 national data are from a sample of housing units
interviewed between April and September 2007. The same
basic sample of housing units is interviewed every 2 years
until a new sample is selected. The United States Census Bureau
updates the sample by adding newly constructed housing
units and units discovered through coverage improvement
efforts.
For the 2007 American Housing Survey--National sample
(AHS-N), approximately 60,000 sample housing units were
originally selected for interview. Due to budgetary constraints,
roughly 8 percent of these units were taken out
of the sample and were not interviewed in 2007. These
reduced units are eligible for reinstatement in future enumerations.
About 2,150 of the remaining 55,000 total
units included for interview 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 52,850 eligible sample units, about 6,550 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 88 percent. The weighted overall
response rate was 89 percent.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Work Done Record (Replacement or Additions to the House)
DS2: Journey to Work 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: Mover Group Record
description: Housing Units in the United States.
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI)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 seven 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 with 2001, three datasets: Part 2, Housing Unit Record (Main Record), Part 9, Recodes (One 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.Additional information about the American Housing Survey can be found at the HUD USER Web site and the United States Census Bureau Web site.