IV. Demographic Information
June 5, 2009
Author: Michael Hanley
A. HUD Demographics --
1. HUD makes available to the public detailed demographic data for its Public Housing and Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher programs based on the monthly electronic reports submitted by each PHA. The data summarizes in tables, charts and graphs the information obtained from each household when they certify and fill out the HUD 50058 “Family Report Form.” The information includes race and ethnicity, income, source of income, disability status, etc.
GO TO: https://pic.hud.gov/pic/RCRPublic/rcrmain.asp
2. In addition to its PHA data, HUD also provides “cross tabulations” of census data to assist communities in preparing their local community development plans. Cross-tabs are information that are not directly available from the census because they provide the overlap of two or more separate census categories.
GO TO: “Special Tabulations”, or directly to the State of Cities data for the Comprehensive Affordability Housing Strategy submission at: CHAS
Example: The CHAS cross-tab data is valuable of identifying high risk census tracts in Lead Paint Advocacy. See tables A14A and A14B.
For more table descriptions CLICK HERE.)
B. The Census:
Click on: “American Factfinder” The URL is: http://factfinder.census.gov
C. Getting Data (when available) for a Particular Development
One particularly good starting point when you are trying to do a demographic analysis of a particular housing development is the Fact Finder. If you look at the census data at the “block” level you will often be able to determine what the race and ethnicity data is for a particular housing development (at least as of April 1, 2000). Looking at the block level demographics can actually be a useful starting point for determining whether a particular housing development may be applying discriminatory admissions policies. For example, a development that shows no minorities, or very few minorities, in a neighborhood that has a much higher concentration of minorities may indicate unlawfully discriminatory admission policies. Use the following “Address Search” link to determine the census tract, block group and block identifiers and then check the SF-1 housing tables. An easy table to use is “QT-H1—General Housing Characteristics” which in addition to race and ethnicity data will give you information on tenure (owner vs. renter units), vacancies, and age of occupants (sometimes useful in reviewing discrimination against families with children. Obviously the value of this information will be much more useful when the April 1, 2010 census data becomes available.
Finally, for more generalized demographic information about larger geographic areas, the follow links may be useful: http://www.censusscope.org
University of Michigan http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stdemog.html
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