Subsidized vs unsubsidized rents in ACS data

USA
1

I downloaded the 2000-2002 ACS data from IPUMS to look into the distribution of rentsub. It looks as though the vast majority of people receiving rental subsidies are reporting their rent payments to ACS rather than their contract rent. rentsub indicates a subsidy much more often for those reporting very low rents. ACS is trying to collect contract rent, right? Do we have reason to believe that rent data after 2002 is more reflective of contract rents than the 2000-2002 data?

For details, here is my Stata code. I did not adjust for inflation; nominal values 2000-2002 are pooled.

replace hhincome = . if inlist(hhincome, 0, 9999999, 9999998)
replace rentgrs = . if rentgrs == 0
xtile hhinc_dec = hhincome [w=hhwt] if pernum == 1, nq(10)
xtile rentgrs_dec = rentgrs [w=hhwt] if pernum == 1, nq(10)
gen rentsub_d = .
replace rentsub_d = 0 if rentsub < 2
replace rentsub_d = 1 if inlist(rentsub, 2, 3, 4)
table rentburden_dec hhinc_dec if pernum == 1 [w=hhwt], statistic(mean rentsub_d) nformat(%9.3f mean)

Results:

(frequency weights assumed)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           |                                 10 quantiles of hhincome                              
                           |      1       2       3       4       5       6       7       8       9      10   Total
---------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10 quantiles of rentburden |                                                                                       
  1                        |  0.874   0.626   0.496   0.254   0.134   0.075   0.058   0.035   0.022   0.016   0.083
  2                        |  0.814   0.704   0.295   0.096   0.040   0.022   0.013   0.010   0.009   0.006   0.062
  3                        |  0.855   0.608   0.147   0.047   0.023   0.015   0.011   0.009   0.007   0.004   0.064
  4                        |  0.824   0.452   0.098   0.043   0.017   0.011   0.004   0.004   0.000   0.003   0.076
  5                        |  0.784   0.375   0.076   0.033   0.015   0.018   0.013   0.002   0.000   0.000   0.109
  6                        |  0.783   0.298   0.071   0.032   0.020   0.012   0.007   0.009   0.010   0.000   0.169
  7                        |  0.663   0.160   0.053   0.036   0.020   0.010   0.014   0.004   0.000   0.000   0.141
  8                        |  0.393   0.100   0.062   0.037   0.020   0.012   0.003   0.000   0.000   0.000   0.124
  9                        |  0.208   0.095   0.079   0.036   0.031   0.015   0.028   0.000   0.000           0.135
  10                       |  0.198   0.127   0.052   0.015   0.087   0.000                                   0.186
  Total                    |  0.337   0.184   0.087   0.047   0.028   0.022   0.019   0.016   0.013   0.013   0.115
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2

I sounds like you’re asking about obtaining the unsubsidized rent amount for those for receive housing subsidies? This information is not readily available in the ACS.

The ACS is a self-administered questionnaire (see the full questionnaire), meaning that data is restricted to information respondents already have. Most housing subsidy programs, such as Section 8, do not provide recipients with information on what the negotiated contract rent for their home is. People will therefore only report how much they actually paid for their housing, rather than how much the landlord received. While RENTGRS notes that it reports monthly gross rent inclusive of contract rent (RENT) and utilities, “contract rent” in this case refers to the amount respondents paid for rent exclusive of utilities and other housing-related costs. You can confirm this by referring to the Questionnaire Text tab for RENT.