Picture of Subsidized Households describes the 4.9 million households living in HUD-subsidized housing in the United States for the year 2000. Like previous editions, Picture 2000 provides characteristics of assisted housing units and residents, summarized at the national, state, public housing agency (PHA), project, and census tract levels. However, Picture 2000 now includes summary data for Metropolitan Statistical Areas and cities.
Also new in this release: you can create custom queries of the Picture data by geography and by HUD program, and retrieve exactly the data you need (see steps 1-5). Or, you can download complete summary files (see Download section below). You also may export PICTURE data to your Geographic Information System (GIS) software for mapping (see GIS section below).
Custom Queries
STEP 1: CHOOSE A GEOGRAPHIC LEVEL. You may query by US totals, state totals, Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA/PMSA definitions as of 1999), Census tract, city (defined as city, town, village, incorporated place, or Census-designated place), public housing agencies, or individual projects (public housing, multifamily, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit properties).
STEP 2: SELECT ONE OR MORE ENTITIES FROM THE GEOGRAPHIC LEVEL. Use the CTRL or SHIFT keys to select multiple entities.
STEP 3: CHOOSE ONE OR MORE HUD PROGRAMS. You may choose Public Housing, Section 8 certificates/vouchers, Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation, Section 8 New Construction or Substantial Rehabilitation, Section 236, other HUD-assisted multifamily, or LIHTC.
STEP 4: CHOOSE VARIABLES. Depending on the program(s) you choose, you may retrieve data such as the number of units; % occupied; average income and type; % distribution of age, disability, and race/ethnicity; and geographic codes such as latitude/longitude. NOTE: Not all variables are available for all programs.
STEP 5: CHOOSE OUTPUT TYPE. You may view or print your data as HTML tables, or save as comma-delimited text files for further analysis.
Click here for detailed examples of queries you can generate using the new query tool.
Download Complete Summary Files
You may download entire summary files by geography. Files are self-extracting compressed files that expand to comma-delimited text (.TXT) files. Click on the file you want, and then choose a directory on your computer where the extracted file will be placed. NOTE: These files are national in scope and include all variables. Some of these files are large, and may take up to 15 minutes to download depending on the speed of your internet connection.
Cities, towns, villages, incorporated places, and Census Designated Places
All programs
Mapping PICTURE Data With a GIS
You can bring PICTURE data into your GIS (Geographic Information System) in several ways:
HOW TO CREATE NATIONAL HUD ASSISTED HOUSING LAYERS FROM A PICTURE OF SUBSIDIZED HOUSEHOLDS: Download the PDF file.
MAP ALL HUD ASSISTED PROJECTS: Download the projects_data.exe file. Extract the file to your local computer. The file will contain fields for latitude and longitude. Using these fields, you can create a new shapefile/layer/coverage on your map. Refer to your GIS software documentation for help with importing a text file containing LAT/LONG data. You also may need to change the map projection in order for your points to display properly.
MAP HUD ASSISTED PROJECTS IN ONE STATE ONLY: Create a query with projects as your geographic level. You may choose one or more programs, but can only query one state at a time. Be sure to include the variables subprogram, latitude, and longitude. The variable program_label will automatically be included in your output. Export your output to comma-delimited text, save on your PC, then import into your GIS software. Refer to your GIS software documentation for help with importing a text file containing LAT/LONG data.
CREATE THEMATIC (COLOR-CODED) MAPS BY STATE: Create a query with state as your geographic level. Be sure to include the variable code, as well as any other variable you want to symbolize your map with, in your query. Export to comma-delimited text, then import into your GIS software using "spatial join" or similar command. You must already have state boundary files in your GIS. Refer to your GIS software documentation for help with importing data, joining with your existing county boundary files, and creating thematic maps.
CREATE THEMATIC (COLOR-CODED) MAPS BY 2000 CENSUS TRACT: Create a query with census tracts as your geographic level. Be sure to include the variable code, as well as any other variable you want to symbolize your map with, in your query. The code variable will be in the following format:
SSCCCTTTTTT
(2-digit STATE FIPS code, 3-digit COUNTY FIPS code, 6-digit TRACT code)
Export to comma-delimited text, then import into your GIS software using "spatial join" or similar command. You must already have the year 2000 Census Tract boundary files. Refer to your GIS software documentation for help with importing data, joining with your existing census tract boundary files, and creating thematic maps. It is best to only select census tracts for one county at a time.