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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/5/2002 9:55:35 AM
Subject: AHS 2001 Featured in USMHC

The topical article in this quarter's edition of U.S. Housing Market Conditions (https://www.huduser.gov/periodicals/ushmc/summer02/index.html)is "Whence They Came: Housing of Citizens and Noncitizens," featuring the new nativity and citizenship questions in the 2001 AHS. You go directly to the topical piece athttps://www.huduser.gov/periodicals/ushmc/summer02/summary_2.html.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/5/2002 12:16:54 PM
Subject: Re: AHS 2001 Featured in USMHC

The message below from Rachel Drew at the Joint Center was sent just to me, but it is something other AHS users might also find interesting.
--Dav
----- Forwarded by David A. Vandenbroucke/PDR/HHQ/HUD on 09/05/02 12:11 PM -----
Rachel Drew <rdrew@gsd.harvard.edu>
09/05/02 12:07 PM
Dav, The Joint Center has also done some work with the new nativity variables in the 2001 AHS. Last Friday we released a research note on the characteristics and conditions of foreign-born first-time home buyers. Some findings from this report will also be included in an upcoming article in American Demographics. The full report is available on-line athttp://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/homeown/drew_N02-2.pdf.
Rachel Drew Research Assistant Joint Center for Housing Studies617.495.9296rdrew@gsd.harvard.edu

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/6/2002 7:16:06 AM
Subject: AHS 2001 Web Site Update

The full ASCII version of the updated 2001 dataset is now on the HUD USER web site (https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahs.html), as is thedocumentation file. The update package is still waiting to be put on the site.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/6/2002 8:17:38 AM
Subject: AHS Volume 1 Codebook Available Online

The "Volume 1" AHS, codebook, the standard reference for AHS datasets from1973 through 1995, is now available for online access on the HUD USER website, at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahs.html.
On that page, you will find links to a set of PDF files, each containing a chapter or group of chapters from the codebook. Because we don't have an electronic version of the original text, these documents are scanned images of the paper codebook. There are several drawbacks to this approach. First, the files are large. The complete codebook is about 38 MB, which is larger than an AHS dataset. Second, you will be unable select and copy sections of the text, since the documents are just pictures of the printed pages. Third, you won't be able to search for text, for the same reason. Fourth, screen readers, which are programs that translate text into speech, will be unable to read these files. Despite these drawbacks, we thought that having this reference online would still be useful. We've broken it into chapters so that you can download or read just the sections that you need.
Paper copies can still be ordered from HUD USER.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/6/2002 11:21:11 AM
Subject: AHS 2001 Update Package Now Available

The update package for the updated 2001 AHS dataset is now available for download fromhttps://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahs.html. Thispackage is for those of you who downloaded the dataset previously and want only the changed data. The update package is a self-extracting zip file which contains these items:
1. Replacement homimp datasets, in both ASCII and SAS versions. 2. An ASCII file that contains the changed data for the newhouse file. 3. A SAS program that will merge the changed data with your old (SAS)newhouse file.4. A README file explaining the changes.
The package is 714KB and expands to about 3MB. You can use the update package whether you downloaded the SAS or ASCII version originally. However, if you don't use SAS you will have to write a program to merge in the changed newhouse data on your own. The README explains what you need to do in more detail.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: Vicki Elmer <velmer@uclink4.berkeley.edu> on 9/6/2002 2:37:07 PM
Subject: Census 2000 Conference at UC Berkeley November 1, 2002

The UC Berkeley Department of City and Regional Planning invites you to
CENSUS 2000: GROWING TOGETHER OR APART?
U.S and California Population Trends and their Implications for Cities and Metropolitan Areas

The 2000 Census has reaffirmed many of the basic trends of earlier research in the 1990's: the atomization of the family, the growth of minority populations and new immigrants, along with the population shift from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West. Yet within these broad national trends are substantial variations by region, and between and within metropolitan areas. These differences have important implications for planning, urban policy, regional and economic development as well as for housing and community welfare agendas at the local and state level.

During this one day conference, on November 1, 2002, scholars will look at the geographic impact of changes to the population. Presentations will include William Frey on regional and metropolitan growth trends, Robert Lang on the rise of the "boomburbs," Paul Jargowsky on sprawl and poverty, Isabel Sawhill on children and families, Hans Johnson on the regions in California, Dowell Myers on immigration, Peter Schrag on demographics and politics, and Ness Sandoval on segregation and poverty. For more information see: http://urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu/census2000.htm . You can also contact me or John Landis at jlandis@uclink.berkeley.edu.

We are excited about this, and hope you will join us! Vicki

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/12/2002 2:44:23 PM
Subject: AHS Metro Survey Use Examples

It's budget time here in the government again. One part of the AHS that is always in question is the metro survey. If you have been doing any work with the metro surveys, we would like to hear about it. Examples are always nice to have.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/13/2002 7:53:59 AM
Subject: AHS Mailing List Administration

I've received a couple inquiries about those "stop receiving" messages that were sent to the AHS mailing list. Please rest assured that they were NOT notices that you have been unilaterally unsubscribed. They were unsubscribe requests from individual users. We're complying with their requests.
If you do ever want to unsubscribe, be sure you put the word "unsubscribe" in the subject of your message. Otherwise, the mailing list software will see your request as a regular message and send it to everyone, as happened this time.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/13/2002 1:20:15 PM
Subject: Rent Control studies

The message below was sent to me, but it really was a question that should have been asked of all of you. If you reply, please do so to the mailing list (ahs@huduser.gov) or to Mr. Williamson (mwilliamson@omm.com). Don't just hit your "reply" button, because then your information will go back to me.
--Dav Vandenbroucke
David - I am very interested in any research on the effect of rent control on the production, availability and quality of affordable rental housing; in particular before-and-after analysis of communities which have enacted rent control or adjusted or eliminated existing rent control regulations. Any recommendations you could make would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Michael Williamson
___________________________________
Michael A. Williamson O'Melveny & Myers LLP400 S. Hope StreetLos Angeles, California 90071-2899(213) 430-6663 (213) 430-6407 Faxmwilliamson@omm.com ___________________________________

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/20/2002 9:08:00 AM
Subject: AHS News

2002 Metro Survey: The field work on the metro survey is now 99% complete.Only the Los Angeles regional office is still finishing up.
2001 National Survey: The 2001 publication tables may be on the CensusBureau web site in two weeks. The paper version should be available by the end of October.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/24/2002 9:10:16 AM
Subject: AHS: Who Uses the Wall Charts?

We've been exchanging email among HUD, the Census Bureau, and ICF Consulting (who run HUD USER) concerning production runs for the 2001 AHS report and the wall chart or poster. I was a bit surprised to learn that HUD USER had almost completely run out of 1999 wall charts, out of an original stock of 3000. I'm curious to know where they go. If you are a user of the charts, particularly in quantity, please send me an email about it, or send a reply to the mailing list.
Note that, as always, to reply to the list you must enter the list address into the "To" field of your email client. Just hitting your reply button will address you message to me only.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 9/24/2002 12:23:36 PM
Subject: AHS 2001 Table Specifications

The Census Bureau's table specifications for the AHS 2001 publication are now available for download from HUD USER, athttps://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahs.html.
The document shows how the Census Bureau recodes AHS microdata while preparing the published tables. If you want to make sure your tables are constructed the same way as the published ones, this file should guide you.
The file is WordPerfect version 10 format, about 375 KB. My copy of Microsoft Word was able to read it. If you have trouble with the format, send me an email. I'll try to find a format you can use.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 10/2/2002 12:09:36 PM
Subject: AHS 2001 SAS Value Labels Package

The AHS 2001 page on HUD USER (https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahs.html) now features a link to download a zip archive containing a set of files that will add value labels to most of the character variables in the SAS version of the AHS 2001 dataset. Here is an excerpt from the ReadMe file that gives a longer explanation:
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What Are Value Labels? ----------------------
Most of the variables in the American Housing Survey are coded to represent different attributes of the housing unit to which they refer. For example, the TENURE variable represents an owned unit by '1,' a for-cash rental unit by '2,' and a no-cash rental unit by '3." A tabulation of housing units by tenure would produce a table which showed these values (1,2,3). However, SAS allows users to define formats that assign labels to these values, such as '1'='Owner,' '2'='Cash Renter," and '3'='No-Cash Renter." Once the TENURE variable is associated with this particular format, tabulations by tenure will print the labels rather than the codes. This makes the tables easier to read.

What Does this Package Do? --------------------------
Given that there are thousands of variables in the AHS dataset, defining formats for each is a tedious job. This package includes formats for most character variables in the dataset, saving you the work.

Files in this Package ---------------------
AHS UP-CASER.SAS A SAS program to make all the variable names in the "flattened" version of the AHS dataset upper case.
formatvnew.txt A text file containing the format definitions.
formutil.sas A SAS program which assigns formats to variables
Nativity Labels.sas A SAS program which assigns a format to the NATVTY variable (a special case--see below)
NewFormat.sas7bdat A SAS dataset that tracks the formats to be assigned to each variable
Procfmt.sas A SAS program to turn the information in formatvnew.txt into a SAS format catalog
ReadMe.TXT This documentation file.
============================================================================
The full ReadMe file includes instructions on how to use the package.
Users of analytical programs other than SAS may want to download this package just for the sake of the "formatvnew.txt" file, which lists all of the variable formats in a structured way. Since it's a text file, you might be able to adapt the information for use with your own software. If you do, I'd like a copy of the results for our user-supplied programs library.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 10/11/2002 10:04:34 AM
Subject: AHS OT: Special Tabulations Program for Federal Agencies - Oct 28

This is not particularly concerned with the AHS, but some of you may be interested in this announcement of a conference at the Census Bureau. Please note that replies should be sent to the person listed in the announcement, and not to me or the AHS list.

You are invited to attend the Special Tabulation Program for Federal Agencies Conference, sponsored by the US Census Bureau. This conference will update you on Census 2000 data products and the planned special tabulations program for federal agencies.
You will also find out how you can currently access data from Census 2000, including American FactFinder, and how to order your own special tabulations.
Date: Monday, October 28, 2002 Time: 9:00am to 12:30pm Location: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room #1 (basement) Street Address: 2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE Washington, DC 20212 Metro: Bureau of Labor Statistics is located across from Union Station/Metro. Parking: Public parking is available at Union Station.
Please see the detailed agenda below or the attached .pdf document. Please feel free to pass this invitation to your colleagues and encourage them to attend.
Anyone wishing to attend should respond by October 10, 2002, by email to Victoria.L.Currie@census.gov
If you plan to attend, you must supply the following information to Victoria Currie, as required for security purposes to gain access to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
· your full name, · agency name, · business address and · phone number.
For additional information regarding the conference, please contact Victoria Currie in the Marketing Services Office at the Census Bureau via email or phone at 301-457-3109.
For information regarding the facilities and accommodations, please contact BLS directly by phoning Pamela at 202-691-7375.
________________________________________________________________________________________

SPECIAL TABULATION PROGRAM FOR FEDERAL AGENCIES DRAFT AGENDA October 28, 2002

9:00 Welcome by Executive Staff Presenter: Gloria Gutierrez Assistant Director for Marketing and Customer Liaison
9:15 2000 Data Content/Products Presentation Presenter: John Kavaliunas Chief, Marketing Services Office
10:00 American Fact Finder Presenter: Sandra Rowland Survey Statistician, Data Access and Dissemination Systems Office
10:45 BREAK
11:15 Process and Limitations for Ordering Special Tabs Presenter: Laura Zayatz Chair, Disclosure Review Board & Linda Showalter Special Tabulations Coordinator, Population Division
12:00 Questions & Answers Moderator: John Kavaliunas
12:30 Adjourn

Victoria Currie Marketing Specialist, US CENSUS BUREAU301 457-3109
[The original announcement had a PDF attachment, which I deleted. --Dav]

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From: "Jill Meron" <Jmeron@nmhc.org> on 10/11/2002 11:50:47 AM
Subject: Repairs and Maintenance

From tabulating the variable CSTMNT ( AHS 2001) over all owners I get that the median annual amount spent on routine repairs and maintenance is $400. Does anyone know if this is a reasonable estimate or know of any literature on this issue? Thanks

Jill Meron Research Analyst National Multi Housing Council202 974 2343

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 10/11/2002 3:30:30 PM
Subject: Re: Repairs and Maintenance

Jill Meron (Jmeron@nmhc.org) asks:
>>From tabulating the variable CSTMNT ( AHS 2001) over all owners I get that the median annual amount spent on routine repairs and maintenance is $400. Does anyone know if this is a reasonable estimate or know of any literature on this issue?<<
This seems a little high. The draft of the 2001 report (Table 3-13, line60) shows a median monthly cost of less than $25 for all owners. Thatworks out to an annual cost of less than $300.
When I run a median on CSTMNT for TENURE='1' AND STATUS='1', I get a median of 200.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 10/18/2002 8:19:11 AM
Subject: AHS Update

2002 Metro Survey: The fieldwork for the 2002 survey is done. In a fewmonths, I will be telling you that the public use file isn't ready yet.
2001 National Survey: The PDF version of the 2001 report is now availablefor download from http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/h150-01.pdf. Notethat it is NOT currently listed on the "National Data" page of the Census AHS web site. Presumably that page will be updated soon. The printed and HTML versions of the report should be available near the end of this month.
The AHS microdata has been available through the Census Bureau's Ferret system (https://dataferrett.census.gov/) for about three weeks, something that I neglected to announce at the time of its release.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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From: David_A._Vandenbroucke@HUD.GOV on 10/21/2002 7:18:50 AM
Subject: Weighting Change in 2001 AHS Publication

You will find that tabulations that you do from the 2001 AHS public use file (PUF) will not quite match similar tabulations in the report. This is because the report uses different geographic weights than the PUF. This is how the Census Bureau describes the change:
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Weighting Change: 2001 PUF verses 2001 publication
Prior to 2001 the American Housing Survey (AHS) public use file (PUF) could be used to reproduce the same tabulations presented in the AHS publication, series H-150, for most characteristics. This is not possible in 2001 because the PUF and the publication use different weights.
The 2001 AHS publication, series H-150/01, contains data using 1990 geographic definitions (central cities, suburbs, non-metropolitan, urban, and rural). The 2001 AHS public use file (PUF) contains geographic variables which use 1980 definitions. Prior to 2001 both the AHS H-150 publication and the PUF used 1980 geographic definitions.
Because the publication uses different definitions for geographic areas, the weights are also different. For example, a unit classified as rural in1980 but urban in 1990 would receive a rural weight on the PUF and an urbanweight for the publication.
Although both weighting procedures produce the same total count of housing units for the United States (119,117,000) as a whole, differences exist for most subcategories. The publication should be used to analyze data for geographic areas using 1990 definitions. The PUF should be used to analyze data for geographic areas using 1980 definitions. The PUF should also be used when making historical comparisons.
When doing current year (2001) analysis either data set can be used and both should be considered to be equally accurate. The differences between the two sets of data at the level of the United States are for the most part insignificant. Analysis of the data from the PUF and the publication at the United States level for the year 2001 should result in the same conclusions.
A summary of the level of difference between these two sets of data can be found in tables H and V of appendix C of the 2001 AHS publication. The publication can be found on the Internet at the following location:
http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/h150-01.pdf
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We are planning to put some tables on the Census web site that use the 1980 weights, so that you can check your tabulations against them.
Dav Vandenbroucke Economist U.S. Dept. HUD david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov202-708-1060 ext. 5890

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