4-Bedroom Rent Calculation for Assumption Parish, LA

The 4-Bedroom FMR is computed from a 2000 Census Base 4-Bedroom Rent and updated using the same update factors derived for the 2-Bedroom FMR. The 4-Bedroom FMR may be separately rebenchmarked from the 2-Bedroom FMR by a special RDD of 4-Bedroom rental units.

The actual 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent and Revised Final 2005 4-Bedroom FMR for Assumption Parish, LA are: $515 and $577. All FMRs are 40th percentile rents. The update factors used to derive the Revised Final 2005 4-Bedroom FMR are summarized in the table below. The sources of the update factors are the same as the sources for the 2-Bedroom FMR update factors.

The remainder of this page demonstrates how the 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent is computed.

4-Bedroom FMR Computational Techniques

FMR estimates are calculated for 2-bedroom units, the most common size of rental units, and therefore the most reliable to survey and analyze. After each decennial Census, rent relationships between 2-bedroom units and other unit sizes are calculated and used to set FMRs for other units. This is done because it is much easier to update 2-bedroom estimates and to use pre-established cost relationships with other bedroom sizes than it is to develop independent FMR estimates for each bedroom size.

Adjustments are made to the Census results for areas with local bedroom-size intervals above or below what are considered to be reasonable ranges or where sample sizes are inadequate to accurately measure bedroom rent differentials. Experience has shown that highly unusual bedroom ratios typically reflect inadequate sample sizes or peculiar local circumstances that HUD would not want to utilize in setting FMRs (e.g., luxury efficiency apartments in New York City that rent for more than typical one-bedroom units). Bedroom interval ranges were established based on an analysis of the range of such intervals for all areas with large enough samples to permit accurate bedroom ratio determinations. The final range for 4-bedroom units is between 1.14 and 1.63 of the 2-bedroom unit FMR. In Assumption Parish, LA, the 4-bedroom unit base FMR is restricted to be between $469 and $670 before application of the large unit adjustment described below.

The rents for three-bedroom and larger units continue to reflect HUD?s policy to set higher rents for these units than would result from using normal market rents. This adjustment is intended to increase the likelihood that the largest families, who have the most difficulty in leasing units, will be successful in finding eligible program units. The adjustment adds bonuses of 8.7 percent to the unadjusted three-bedroom FMR estimates and adds 7.7 percent to the unadjusted four-bedroom FMR estimates.

Bedroom rents for a given FMR area are further adjusted if the differentials between bedroom-size FMRs were inconsistent with normally observed patterns.

FMR Area Geography

Assumption Parish, LA has an insufficient 2000 Census sample to compute its own recent-mover FMR. HUD requires a sample of at least 200 recent movers, but Assumption Parish, LA has only 85 units in the protected data sample. Therefore, Assumption Parish, LA is assigned the 2000 Census Base Rentfor the combination of counties listed below, even though some members of the group may have a sufficient sample size for their own FMR. Other FMR areas that use the same county group FMR are indicated by "*"

Members of the county group: Assumption Parish, LA*; Lafourche Parish, LA.

User Note

In computing 2000 Census RentBedroom Rents, HUD actually uses data on rent distributions that are prohibited from public release under Title XIII to protect the confidentiality of respondents. The distributions used in this demonstration are rounded versions of the actual, protected data.

The rounding scheme is as follows:

0, count = 0
1 to 7, count = 4
all other counts are rounded to the nearest 5 (e.g., 10, 15, 20, 25, etc.)

CALCULATIONS USING THE ROUNDED DATA MAY NOT PRODUCE THE SAME RESULT AS CALCULATIONS USING THE PROTECTED DATA. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HUD'S ACTUAL RESULTS AND THOSE DEMONSTRATED HERE IS INVERSELY RELATED TO THE SIZE OF THE FMR AREA. THAT IS, THE LARGER THE AREA, THE CLOSER THE CALCULATION BASED ON THE ROUNDED DATA IS LIKELY TO BE TO THE CENSUS BASE FMR COMPUTED FROM THE PROTECTED DATA.

Recent Mover and Standard Quality Rents

HUD uses rents for recent movers in standard quality units to set the Census 2000 Base Rent. "Standard Quality" units and rents are determined by limiting the full Census sample by including only responses meeting the following criteria:

a. Occupied rental units paying cash rent
b. Specified renter ? on 10 acres or less
c. with full plumbing
d. with full kitchen
e. built before 1999
f. meals not included in rent

"Recent Mover" rents are determined by further limiting the "Standard Quality" sample with the following additional criterion:

g. moved in within the last two years

The 2000 Census did not include a question that could be used to filter public or assisted housing from the rental distributions, however HUD is required to ensure that FMRs exclude non-market rental housing in their computation. Therefore, HUD excludes all units falling below a specified rent level determined from public housing rents in HUD's program databases as likely to be either assisted housing or otherwise at a below-market rent (perhaps due to quality problems not otherwise captured by the Census questions). The "public housing" rent cut-off for 4-bedroom units in Assumption Parish, LA is $268.

40th Percentile Recent Mover Rent for 4-Bedroom Units

The following table and calculations demonstrate how the 40th percentile Census 2000 4-Bedroom Base Rent is determined for Assumption Parish, LA using the public distribution of recent mover rents for 4-bedroom units in the county group specified above.

There were no recent mover 4-bedroom units in the rent interval containing the Public Housing Rent level of $268.

The 40th percentile recent mover rent for Assumption Parish, LA is set at the rent interval dividing line amount of $475 because exactly 40 percent of units are in rent intervals below this amount.

Because the 4-Bedroom unadjusted 2000 Census Base Rentis set at the county group level, the standard quality rent for Assumption Parish, LA is not evaluated. Thus, the unadjusted 2000 Census base rent for Assumption Parish, LA is set at the county group recent mover rent of $475.

Adjustments to 2000 Census Results

The unadjusted 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent of $475 is inside of the reasonable range of $469 to $670 and is therefore not adjusted for reasonableness.

To reflect HUD?s policy to set higher rents for 4-bedroom units than would result from using normal market rents, the results obtained above are adjusted upward by 7.7 percent to $512 to increase the likelihood that the largest families, who have the most difficulty in leasing units, will be successful in finding eligible program units.

The difference between the actual 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rentof $515 and the demonstration 2000 Census 4-Bedroom Base Rent of $512 computed here is due to the effects of rounding on the public distribution as described above.

Problems or questions? Contact Peter_B._Kahn@hud.gov.