Appendix B
Glossary
Household and Family Types
Family -- The "families" eligible for HUD programs have traditionally included households with relatives, households with children, elderly single persons age 62 or older, and single persons with disabilities. The Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 broadened the statutory definition of "family" in a way that makes all households eligible for rental programs. In this report, however, the term "family" refers only to non-elderly "family households" in which one or more persons in the household are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption.
Families with children -- Household with a child under age 18 present.
Elderly -- Household in which the head of household or spouse is age 62 or older, and there are no children present.
Nonfamily households -- Households with a single non-elderly person living alone or only with nonrelatives.
Households having members with disabilities -- Ideally, this category should include all non-elderly households with adults with disabilities present. However, none of the available data sources count these households perfectly. The American Housing Survey (AHS) proxy used in this and previous reports is known to be an underestimate, because it counts only single persons living alone or with nonrelatives who report receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI). HUD program data show appreciably more households (without children) having members with disabilities receiving rental assistance than does the AHS proxy. New data on SSI recipients who are blind or have other disabilities permit more complete counts of very-low-income renters receiving HUD assistance or having a severe rent burden. Even these data exclude very-low-income persons who have disabilities with incomes above SSI levels.
Types of Income
Income -- Income in AHS is based on the respondent's reply to questions about income during the 12 months prior to interview. It includes amounts reported for wage and salary income, net self-employment income, Social Security or railroad retirement income, public assistance or welfare payments, and all other money income, prior to deductions for taxes or any other purpose. Following HUD rules for income eligibility, early worst case reports also included imputed income from equity in an owned home as income for owners, but income from equity is not included in this report. In 1993, AHS began asking more detailed questions on nonwage income, and the share of households reporting nonwage income rose from 63 percent (in 1991) to 77 percent.
Family income -- Reported income from all sources for the householder (the first household member 18 years or older who is the owner or renter of the housing unit) and other household members related to the householder.
Household income -- Reported income from all sources for all household members.
Housing Problems
Overcrowding -- The condition of having more than one person per room per residence.
Rent or cost burden -- Ratio between payments for housing (including utilities) and reported household income. This calculation is based on gross income. It does not make the adjustments to income required by housing assistance programs before percentage-of-income rents are determined. To the extent that respondents underreport total income, the AHS estimates overcount the number of households with cost burden.
Moderate rent or cost burden -- Housing costs between 31 and 50 percent of reported income.
Severe cost burden -- Housing costs exceeding 50 percent of reported income.
Inadequate housing -- Housing with severe or moderate physical problems, as defined in the AHS since 1984. These definitions are presented in appendix A of the AHS published volumes in detail and in appendix B of this report. Briefly, a unit is defined as having severe physical problems if it has severe problems in any of five areas: plumbing, heating, electrical system, upkeep, and hallways. It has moderate problems if it has problems in plumbing, heating, upkeep, hallways, or kitchen, but no severe problems.
Priority housing problems -- Problems qualifying for Federal preference in admission to assisted housing programs: paying more than one-half of income for rent (severe rent burden), living in severely substandard housing (including being homeless or in a homeless shelter), or being involuntarily displaced. Because the AHS sample tracks housing units and thus cannot count the homeless, AHS estimates of priority problems in this report include only households with cost burdens above 50 percent of income or severely inadequate housing.
Income Categories
HUD-adjusted area median family income (HAMFI) -- In 1974, Congress defined "low income" and "very low income" for HUD rental programs as incomes not exceeding 80 and 50 percent, respectively, of the area median family income, as adjusted by HUD. Statutory adjustments now include upper and lower caps for areas with low or high ratios of housing costs to income and, for each non-metropolitan county, a lower cap equal to its State's non-metropolitan average. Estimates of the median family income and the official income cutoffs for each metropolitan area and non-metropolitan county are based on the most recent Decennial Census results and then updated each year by HUD. Each base income cutoff is assumed to apply to a household of four, and official cutoffs are further adjusted by household size: one person, 70 percent of base; two persons, 80 percent; three persons, 90 percent; five persons, 108 percent; six persons, 116 percent; and so on.
Low income -- Reported income not in excess of 80 percent of HAMFI or, if lower, the national median family income. In 1995, 45 percent of AHS households reported incomes that fell below the low-income cutoffs.
Very low income -- Income not in excess of 50 percent of HAMFI. In 1995, 27 percent of AHS households reported income below the very-low-income cutoffs.
Extremely low income -- Income not in excess of 30 percent of HAMFI. In 1995, 14 percent of AHS households reported income below 30 percent of HAMFI.
Poor -- Household income below the official national poverty cutoffs for the United States for that household size. The poverty cutoff for a family of four approximates 33 percent of HAMFI. Forty-four percent of very-low-income households and 85 percent of extremely-low-income households are poor.
Middle income -- For this report, adjusted incomes between 81 and 120 percent of HAMFI. About one-fourth of households (24 percent) were in this category in 1995.
Upper income -- For this report, households with income above 120 percent of HAMFI. One-third of U.S. households fell into this category in 1995.
Housing Assistance Status
Receiving assistance -- From AHS data, includes those responding "yes" to the following AHS questions: Is the building owned by a public housing authority? Does the Federal Government pay some of the cost of the unit? Do the people living here have to report the household's income to someone every year so they can set the rent?
Worst case or with acute needs -- Unassisted very-low-income renters with the priority housing problems that give them preference for admission to rental assistance programs.
Rent Affordability Categories
Extremely low rent -- Annual rent, including utilities, is at or below 30 percent of 30 percent of HAMFI. For rents, the HUD adjustments vary by number of bedrooms to reflect expected household size: 0 bedrooms-1 person; 1 bedroom-1.5 persons; 2 bedrooms-3 persons; 3 bedrooms-4.5 persons, etc.
Very low rent -- Annual rent, including utilities, is at or below 30 percent of 50 percent of HAMFI.
Location
(Standard) Metropolitan Statistical Area -- From 1973 to 1983, the definitions of metropolitan location in Annual Housing Survey data corresponded to the 243 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) used in the 1970 census. Since 1984, metropolitan location in AHS has referred to MSAs defined in 1983, based on the 1980 census.
Region -- The four census regions are the Northeast, Midwest, South, and West.
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