Measuring Inadequate Housing Through the Use of the Annual Housing Survey

摘要

This study developed a new definition of inadequate housing for use as a general housing policy indicator, based on a survey of previous definitions and evaluations of alternative indicators of inadequate housing reported in the Annual Housing Survey (AHS). These were assessed on the basis of their relationship with value of the housing unit and income of its occupants, the stability of their occurrence over time, the number of units defined as inadequate by inclusion of various indicators in the definition; etc. The study also reviewed proceedings of a HUD - sponsored conference on the provisional definition of inadequate housing. The new definition specifies six dimensions of housing quality -- plumbing, kitchen, physical structure, common areas (for multifamily structures), heating, and electrical systems. According to this definition, approximately 10 percent of all occupied housing units were physically inadequate (with 4 percent being seriously inadequate) in 1977. Whereas this number of physically inadequate units was less than 1 percent lower than the number existing in 1975 relative to total occupied units, the relative number of seriously inadequate units was 7 percent lower than in 1975. Tabular data, footnotes, and a 30 item bibliography are given.