A First: HUD Oregon LIHTC Data Merged with Census Tract 2010 Poverty Data from ACS.

HUD has updated (HERE) their LIHTC project database to include projects placed in service through 2010. For the first time the database includes 2010 geographic codes, including census tracts ID's/FIPS (I have posted the HUD LIHTC data dictionary, updated in July 2012, HERE). 

In advance of a more formal announcement from HUD of the changes (coming soon I expect HERE) I downloaded LIHTC data for 588 LIHTC projects (32,750 units) in Oregon. I imported that data into Excel and then merged the data with American Community Survey 2006-2010 poverty data for Oregon census tracts ( using ACS Table B06012). In the merged table I added columns/fields with formulas that identify high and low poverty rate categories and the names of metro areas and counties.

That combined table, the source LIHTC data from HUD, the poverty data from ACS, a pivot table, and two summary county level poverty rate tables are found in the Excel workbook found HERE.  

(Embed of this Excel workbook follows observations below and opens to summary table showing High Poverty LIHTC location %'s by county).

Some Initial Observations, 227 Oregon LIHTC Projects Placed Into Service in Last Decade (2001-2010)

LIHTC Projects/Units in High Poverty Census Tracts

• In Oregon, 42% of all projects and 48% of LIHTC low income units were located in high poverty census tracts (poverty rates of 20% or more).  
• In Multnomah County 65% of all projects and 72% of LIHTC low income units were located in high poverty census tracts (poverty rates of 20% or more).  
• Multnomah County accounts for 51% of all Oregon LIHTC projects (and 66% of all units) located in Census Tracts with known poverty rates of 20% and higher. 

LIHTC Projects/Units in LOW Poverty Census Tracts

• In Oregon, 12% of all projects and 13% of all LIHTC low income units were located in low poverty census tracts (poverty rate 10% or below).  
• In Multnomah County 8% of all projects and 4% of all LIHTC low income units were located in low poverty census tracts (poverty rate 10% or below).
• Multnomah County accounts for 21% of all Oregon LIHTC projects (and 16% of all units) located in census tracts with poverty rates of 10% and lower.

Notes:
1. All project and unit count percentages are for LIHTC projects where CT's were identified and could be matched with poverty rates; 2 projects placed into service in last decade did not have identifiable CT information
2. At the top of the pivot table I have filtered LIHTC projects to select only those with placed in service dates from 2001-2010.
3. Projects placed in service in 2011 and 2012 are not included in the HUD data; my guess is that there may be 20 or so LIHTC projects in service that are not included in the HUD data.

Combinations with Other ACS and Census Data Now Possible
While I have focused on poverty rates for LIHTC projects, the addition of 2010 Census Tract ID's make it possible to combine LIHTC data with other demographic information available at the census tract level.  Examples include race, ethnicity, diversity, incomes, and tenure. The HUD database also includes additional information on LIHTC projects (source of funding, bedroom size, targeted populations) and additional geographic information including latitude and longitude values that can be used for mapping.

Excel Embed:

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog. 

Highly Recommended: New OHCS Reports On Poverty Have Lots of Additional Data to County Level.

Recent OHCS Director's message referred to new OHCS poverty reports so I took a look.  Very pleased to see EXTENSIVE data that goes way beyond poverty data, all displayed in very compact 2 page formats.

Reports includes 5 year ACS cost burden data at different income levels, unit counts etc.  

HIGHLY recommended; I will follow up to see if consolidated Excel version may be available for some of data. 

You can find statewide and county level reports HERE; Multnomah County report as example is HERE and I have pasted just one part of Multnomah County report showing cost burdens below: 

Click to Enlarge

Kudos to Bill Carpenter, Natasha Detweiler, and OHCS leadership for the quality, reach and usability of these reports. Reports are of such quality that they really should be award winning, AND of much use to many advocacy organizations.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

5 Year ACS Estimates Coming Next Tuesday Dec 14; For First Time Will Cover ALL Areas.

Will be interesting to see how useful data covering 5 years (Jan 2005-Dec 2009) is and (eventually) how it compares to 2010 Census data. ALL cities will be included for first time and some data will go all the way to the block group level.

Most of this 5 year data is supposed to be available through American Fact Finder with additional data available through downloads. Details about data and geographies available is HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

American Community Survey Data Coming Tuesday Sept 28th; Advance Webinar Next Week.

Census PR HERE also includes information about Thursday Sept 23th webinar on same subject.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

ACS 2008: Oregon Severe Cost Burdens for Renters Increase, State Ranking Drops.

The American Community Survey released last week has lots of income and housing data.

I extracted the data for renter severe cost burdens (paying 50% or more of income for rent) and compared the 2008 Oregon data with other states and with the same ACS data for years since 2005.

The two page comparison I put together is HERE. It shows

• About 1/4 of all Oregon renters pay more than 50% of their income for rent, about the same as the national average.
• After a couple of years of improvement, Oregon's relative standing slipped from 33rd to 40th best in the country. (That is still better then the 45th ranking that Oregon had in 2005).
• Oregon's increase in renter cost burden was higher than the national increase from 2007-2008 (4.9% vs. 2.2%) but the decrease in Oregon from 2005-2008 was also higher than the national decrease ( -4.8% vs.-.01%).
• NOTE: I think my data is more precise than some other renter cost burden calculations because in the denominator of my calculations I use only the universe of renter households where rent burden has been calculated, instead of the entire universe of renter households.
  

Want MORE 2008 Renter Cost Burden Data?
I have also created a query for the 2008 ACS renter cost burden data table (B25020). My query includes ALL rent burden levels and ALL of the following geographic areas:

1. US
2. Oregon
3. Oregon Counties
4. Oregon Places
5. Oregon Congressional Districts

You can RIGHT CLICK and save that query to a location on your PC HERE.

Once you have downloaded the query to your PC you can then go to the main ACS American Fact Finder site HERE.

Look for the "Load Query" option underlined in blue near the top, and when the dialogue box opens ("Click 'Browse' to find the previously saved query on your computer"), browse to the query that you downloaded from me and then hit the "go" button. Once the query is loaded, the data for ALL levels of rent burden for ALL of these geographic areas will be visible for viewing and/or downloading. (Pretty cool, eh?).

(TIP: If you want to try to replicate the same query for other years you MIGHT try to substitute your year of interest for any and all "2008" references in the query as it appears in the LONG browser address line. I successfully tested this and it does work at least for 2007).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

New CRS Report: Veterans and Homelessness.

You can find June 2009 Congressional Research Service report HERE.

Likely most concise, comprehensive review of veteran homeless data and programs you will find; link above also includes links to earlier related reports.

[Note: Veteran counts are available from American Community Survey; 2007 counts are HERE; 2008 ACS schedule says updated data is coming out at end of September for 1 year estimates, end of October for 3 year estimates.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

CORRECTION: State and Oregon Housing Cost Burden Data from 2007 ACS, With Rankings and Comparisons.

Good thing I called the link below a Draft.

I discovered an error in the formula I used to calculate the severe cost burden rate for homeowners. I have corrected the PDF file, and the link below, to point to the correct version of this document. The earlier version of the PDF has been deleted and let's hope this is the last correction I need to make.

I have prepared a draft PDF document HERE that contains a comprehensive set of housing cost burden data from the 2007 American Community Survey, including state level data for Oregon and data for several Oregon counties and cities.

Key Points About This Housing Cost Burden Data:

• Data for all states included, as well as Oregon cities and counties large enough to be included in the ACS.
• File includes both homeowner and renter household cost burden rates and rankings.
• Both 30% or more cost burdens and severe (50% or greater) cost burden rates are included.
• The ACS tables used to calculate these cost burdens are also identified.

Within the document there are several sections

1. First section is alpha listing of states showing renter and homeowner cost burdens, with a set of columns showing % below or above state cost burden is compared to U.S. Average. (Green cell background indicates that state has lower cost burden than U.S. Average).
   
2. Second section is alpha listing of states, showing state cost burden rankings.
3. Third section displays cost burdens for Oregon cities and counties large enough to be included in the ACS. (Cities or counties with cost burdens greater than statewide average have yellow backgrounds).
4. The final section is a step by step description of process I used to calculate renter cost burdens.
   

2007 ACS : Rent Burdened Oregon HH's Decreased, New State and County Data Available.

This morning the American Community Survey (ACS) housing data was released.

Here's my quick analysis of Oregon Renter Burdened Househols for 2007 (I had previously blogged about 2006 Oregon renter affordability HERE).

2007 Quick Analysis (with 2006 figures in parenthesis):

• 24.2% of Oregon renter households (118,659) spent 50% or more of their income for rent and utilities (2006: 24.8%/119,794)
• 48% of Oregon renter households (234,843) spent 30% or more of their income for rent and utilities. (2006: 49.7%/239,954).
• 1,135 fewer Oregon households paid 50% or more of their income for rent and utilities in 2007 than in 2006.
• 5,111 fewer Oregon households paid 30% of their income for rent and utilities in 2007 than in 2006.

HERE is a PDF file with the data used for my analysis; note that county level data for the ACS is only available for counties with population of 65,000+.

06-05 HH Change: Props For Some Pops; For HH with Own Children Under 18 , Male Headed HH's Were Only HH Category to Increase.

I did a previous piece on 2005 Households types from the American Community Survey for Oregon HERE. I will do an 2006 update to the earlier piece which will include more data on tenure in a few days. (Note below however that there was an estimated 5,600 decline in Oregon renter HH's and the addition of 30,000+ homeowners from 2006-2005).

The table below provides a quick snapshot of ACS estimates of the 2006-2005 CHANGE in Oregon HH's, focused on households with their own children less than 18 years of age.

Select 2006-2005 Oregon Household Changes from ACS:

All Households INCREASED	+24,322
Renter Households DECREASED		(5, 688)
Homeowner Households INCREASED		+30,010
Households with Own Children Less than 18 INCREASED	+1,070
Married Couple Families with Own Children Less than 18 DECREASED		(-363)
Female Household Families with Own Children less than 18 DECREASED		(-1,555)
Male Household Families with Own Children less than 18 INCREASED		+2,988

Oregon Progress Board Renter Median HH Income Is 26% Below ACS Estimate for 2006, Invalidates OPB Rent Burden %'s

This is the first in a series of reviews of Oregon Progress Board Housing Benchmark Data and focuses on Renter Household Incomes and Rent Burdened Percentages.

Progress Board: The Oregon Progress Board [OPB] has changed the statement of this goal over time, invalidating comparisons to early periods. The now stated goal is that no more than 70% of renter households [HH's] below rental median income will pay more than 30% their income for rent. [See page 7 of 2007 Benchmark summary report HERE]

The Progress Board reports that the median rental household income for 2006 was $22.669 and that 82% of renters at that income level paid more than 30% of their income for rent in 2006. (You can confirm renter median income from OPB by generating a specific report HERE).

ACS 2006: The Census American Community Survey [ACS] estimates (Table B25119) that Oregon 2006 renter median household income was $28,582. (The 2005 ACS reported Oregon Renter Household Median Income estimate was $26,385, increasing to $27,236 in 2006 inflation adjusted dollars].

Analysis: OPB's estimated median renter household income for 2006 is $5,913 and 26.1% BELOW the 2006 ACS estimate and $1,346 and 4.9% BELOW the one year earlier inflation adjusted 2005 ACS renter household median estimate.

This wide variance in income directly impacts the accuracy of the rent burdened estimate, as rent burdens generally decrease as incomes increase. Higher ACS estimated renter median HH incomes would suggest that the percentage of below median rent burdened HH's was less than OPB reported.

[Note: ACS data available in the Fact Finder site does not directly provide rent burdens for median income renter HH's, so that no direct comparison can be made with OPB counts and percentages. Those with more skill , time, and software tools than I have MAY be able to calculate such a direct comparison using downloaded PUMS data and I encourage users to try that if they wish ].

Recommendation for Oregon Progress Board: Use ACS Data on Rent Burdens and Renter Median HH Income.

While I appreciate that there are differences in survey methods, including the size of sample and the period sampled, there is no way IMO that a difference of 26.1% in renter HH median income can be explained away by those variations.

OPB already selectively uses other ACS data. With ACS gradually expanding coverage to include smaller areas, if the Oregon Progress Board switched to using ACS data on rent burdens and median renter HH income:

• More valid year to year to year comparisons could be made.
• Some local geographies could be added to track this benchmark.
  
• Direct comparisons to other states could be made.
  

Moreover, OPB would be improve this benchmark to report not only above 30% , but also above 50% rent burdens, which disproportionately affect the lowest income Oregon renters.

ACS 2006 Analysis 1: Rent Burdened Percentage Increased in United States Last Year and In Last 4 Years, But Oregon's Percentage Decreased.

I have just completed my first review of data from the American Community Survey for 2006. The analysis is of estimates of the state percentage of renters paying 30% or more of their income for housing, often called “rent burdened” households.

From 2005-2006 the US percentage of renters paying 30% of income increased by .7% , while Oregon’s percentage decreased by 2.3%.

Looking at change over a longer period from 2003-2006, Oregon did even better, with the fourth largest state decrease of 3.7% vs. a nation increase of 6.5%

Oregon’s improvement to 47% or renters paying 30% or more of income for rent in 2006 still left Oregon above the national average of 46%. Our state ranking improved from the #1 [The Worst] ranking of 4 years ago to a still less than stellar # 11 state ranking in 2006.

NOTE: Idaho’s improvement in last year and last 4 years was BEST in the country, bringing their 2006 rent burdened percentage below 40%. Idaho now ranks as the 46^th rent burdened state compared to a state ranking of 17 just four years ago.

My detailed state data analysis and comparisons are HERE in this three page PDF document.

NON Married Couple Households Are Majority of Oregon Households: Of This Majority, More than Half are Renters.

I have posted the title above as the first posting on a new Oregon Housing Data Blog that I have created that will highlight new (or a new take on existing) Oregon housing data.

I will try to remember to post headlines from that blog here in the future. (However to insure that you see postings on the Oregon Housing Data blog, I would suggest that you subscribe separately. Easy to use boxes for doing so are at the top right of the blog at www.oregonhousingdata.blogspot.com ).