VT Census Case Studies : Location Affordability Portal

Created and last modified by molfe on 02 Jan 2016

Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:

Housing and transportation costs consume about half of the average household budget, but transportation costs are difficult to track and account for. The Location Affordability Portal provides estimates of household housing and transportation costs at the neighborhood level to help consumers, policymakers, and developers make more informed decisions about where to live, work, and invest. The portal contains both an Location Affordability Index and Transportation Cost Calculator. Developers, planners and policymakers can use the Location Affordability Index to make data-driven decisions about local and regional planning and investment. They can also use maps and data tools to help communicate with the public about different development scenarios.

Link: http://www.locationaffordability.info/

http://www.locationaffordability.info/About_Data.aspx

Date Inventory Completed: 6/16/205

Screening

  • Is the data collected opinion-based?
  • Is the data collection recurring (must be collected at least annually)?
  • Is there data available for 2013?
  • Is the data collected at the property or housing unit level?
  • Can we access the data by August 15th?

Purpose

  • What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a Cabinet department in the Executive branch  in charge of developing develop and execute policies on housing and metropolises.

  • Why is it collected and how does the organization use it?

The goal of the Location Affordability Portal is to provide the public with reliable, user-friendly data and resources on combined housing and transportation costs to help consumers, policymakers, and developers make more informed decisions about where to live, work, and invest.

  • Who else uses the data?

Consumers, policymakers, and developers

  • Who do they sell the data to?

Free

 

Method

  • What is the data collection method? 

Pulling from other data sources and creating a new index

  • What is the type of data collected? 

Designed

  • If designed, who created the questions?

Researchers

  • What is the raw source of the collected data (prior to any aggregation)? 

U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS) -- the 2008-2012 survey data.

U.S. Census TIGER/Line Files

U.S. Census Longitudinal Employment-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) the -- LODES and OnTheMap Version 6, which are built on 2010 Census data.

National Transit Database --  the 2010 database, which corresponds to the middle year of the 2008-2012 ACS data.

Consumer Expenditure Survey -- Odometer data for 2007 and 2009 were compared to determine how many miles had been driven by location. To validate the use of this data for entire country, it was compared to the 2009 National Household Travel Survey.


Description

  • What is the general topic of the data (1-2 words)?

Location affordability

  • What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?

2013

  • Is data collected and available periodically?

No 

  • How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided? 


Selectivity

  • What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?

Areas within the United States


Accessibility

  • How is the data accessed? 

Download

  • Is it open data?

Yes

  • Any legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?

None stated

  • Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

Free

Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? Maybe

Full Inventory

Description

  • Features
    • What is the temporal nature of the data: longitudinal, time-series, or one time point?

One time point

    • Geospatial? If Yes, at what level?

Given currently available data, we are able to reliably estimate housing and transportation costs at the Census block-group level for the 94% of the U.S. population living in the 942 Metropolitan or Micropolitan Statistical Areas (i.e., Combined Base Statistical Areas or CBSAs)For non-metropolitan areas that account for the balance of the population living in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, the LAI is calculated at the county level.


Metadata

  • Is there information available to assess the transparency and soundness of the methods to gather the data for our purposes?

Yes. See: http://www.locationaffordability.info/downloads/ModelingCode.pdf

  • Is there a description of each variable in the source along with their valid values?

Yes

  • Are there unique IDs for unique elements that can be used for linking data?

County or census tract IDs

  • Is there a data dictionary or codebook?

See: http://lai.locationaffordability.info//lai_data_dictionary.pdf


Selectivity

  • What unit is represented at the record level of the data source?

Census tracts/County

  • Does this universe match the stated intentions for the data collection? If not, what has been included or excluded and why?

“The state of Massachusetts has no data in the LODES data base. As noted on the LEHD website3 : “All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have joined the LED Partnership, although the LEHD program is not yet producing public-use statistics for Massachusetts, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands.” Consequently, it was necessary to develop methods to fill in the employment data needed for the regression analysis.”

  • What is the sampling technique used (if applicable)? 

  • What was the coverage?

100% at varying levels of geography


Stability/Coherence

  • Were there any changes to the universe of data being captured (including geographical areas covered) and if so what were they?

No (one time point)

  • Were there any changes in the data capture method and if so what were they? 
  • Were there any changes in the sources of data and if so what were they? 

Accuracy

  • Any known sources of error?

None stated

  • Describe any quality control checks performed by the data’s owner.

See: http://www.locationaffordability.info/downloads/ModelingCode.pdf

 

Accessibility

  • Any records or fields collected, but not included in data source, such as for confidentiality reasons)? 

No

  • Is there a subset of variables and/or data that is must be obtained through a separate process? If yes, is there a separate legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source? Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

No


Privacy and security

  • Was consent given by participant? If so, how was consent given?

Not stated

  • Are there legal limitations or restrictions on the use of the data? 

Not stated

  • What confidentiality policies does the source have? 

Not stated

 

Research

  • What research has been done with this dataset? (e.g., impact of policies, predictors of student success)

Research and practice aimed at understanding, and ultimately reducing, the combined housing and transportation cost burden borne by American families

  • Include any links to research if provided:

see: Research http://www.locationaffordability.info/About_TechDoc.aspx

  • List any other data use notes provided by the supplier.

Gaps/Concerns

  • Feasibility - can all jurisdiction levels provide the data (if applicable)?
  • Data ownership - a lack of clarity in legal guidance stemming from a lack of clarity with who owns digital data?
  • Data collection authority - what data is reasonably private and what constitutes unwarranted intrusion?
  • Describe any other notes you have or any gaps/concerns you see with this dataset: