Understanding the Unique Housing Needs of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders: HUD’s Commitment to Data Disaggregation

Understanding the Unique Housing Needs of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders: HUD’s Commitment to Data Disaggregation

Veronica Helms Garrison, Peter Mateyka, and Katherine Tait

Disaggregating data can reveal important discrepancies between subgroups that broader categories can obscure. Existing data reveals statistically significant differences between AANHPI groups based on region of residence, homeownership or renter status, housing cost, income, and housing adequacy.

HUD is one of 45 federal agency members of the Interagency Working Group (IWG) tasked with supporting and furthering the administration’s efforts to better serve Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI). As part of its commitment to reduce disparities in access to safe and affordable homeownership for AANHPI communities, HUD has prioritized disaggregated data collection and analysis. In keeping with this work and in recognition of AANHPI Heritage Month, researchers within HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) analyzed survey data from both the American Housing Survey (AHS) and the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS) as well as HUD administrative data to identify the unique housing characteristics of the AANHPI population. 

Highlights

• We analyzed 2021 American Housing Survey (AHS) data by detailed AANHPI categories and found statistically significant differences between detailed groups by region of residence, tenure (renter or homeowner), housing cost, income, and housing adequacy. For example, 68.4 percent of Chinese householders were homeowners compared with 55.6 percent of Korean householders. More than 50 percent of both Chinese and Korean renter householders were cost burdened, spending more than 30 percent of their household income on housing costs. The median ratio of housing costs to household income for Asian Indian householders who rent was 22.5 percent, about 6 percentage points lower than the average for all Asian householders who rent. 

• Measures of housing adequacy in the 2021 AHS show that 3.6 percent of households with Moderately Inadequate housing are Asian alone, and 3.8 percent of households with Severely Inadequate housing are Asian alone. These rates are slightly higher than those reported by households identifying as two or more races or as American Indian or Alaska Native alone; however, Asian alone households fare better for both classifications when compared with white alone and Black alone households. Larger samples of Pacific Islanders are needed to generate estimates of Moderately Inadequate and Severely Inadequate housing in this population.

• We also examined HUD administrative data by AANHPI categories. In 2022, approximately 407,400 people living in public and assisted housing identified as Asian Americans (n=303,100), or as Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders (n=104,300). When examining the residential location of HUD-assisted, AANHPI persons in 2022, key geographic differences were evident among specific subgroups. For example, approximately 75 percent of those who identified as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander lived in five U.S. states or jurisdictions.

• According to the HPS, during the prior year (May 2022 to May 2023), approximately 16 percent of Asian American renter households reported being behind on rental payments, and approximately 3 percent reported fearing imminent eviction. During the same period, approximately 9 percent of Asian American homeowner households reported being behind on mortgage payments, and approximately 1 percent reported fearing imminent foreclosure.

• PD&R encourages the housing research community to pursue projects that further disaggregate data to better understand the unique housing characteristics of the AANHPI population.

Background: WHIAANHPI and HUD Data Disaggregation Efforts

In May 2021, building on the whole-of-government equity agenda defined in 2020, President Biden established the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI). The initiative provides the organizational capacity to highlight and address the unique needs of AANHPI communities. The initiative also launched a federal IWG comprised of senior officials and subject-matter experts from 45 federal departments, agencies, and offices who were tasked with supporting and furthering the administration’s efforts to better serve the nation’s AANHPI population. 

WHIAANHPI is guided by several cross-cutting strategic priority areas applicable to many policy domains, as set forth in its January 2023 report, “National Strategy to Advance Equity, Justice, and Opportunity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Communities.” Of particular importance to HUD researchers and policymakers is the priority to “address the concentration of poverty facing many AA and NHPI communities, including by identifying and addressing disparities in access to safe, affordable housing and homeownership” (14–6). The second and related priority is to collect and analyze disaggregated, privacy-protecting AANHPI data to “ensure that AA and NHPI populations are empowered by and benefit from federal programs, surveys, and equity assessments” (22). PD&R is therefore prioritizing and implementing AANHPI data disaggregation in the following ways:  

• We are continuing to collect detailed data on race through the AHS to examine housing characteristics and needs for disaggregated AANHPI subgroups.  

• We are reviewing opportunities to revise HUD administrative forms to determine whether expanding respondent options can enable further disaggregation for AANHPI subgroups.  

• We are exploring opportunities for data disaggregation in the HPS to track housing trends for specific subpopulations. 

• We are continuing our participation in the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy’s Subcommittee on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Statistical Data and HUD’s internal Race and Ethnicity Data Workgroup.

To support these commitments, PD&R researchers examined national survey data and HUD administrative data to identify the unique housing characteristics of the AANHPI population.

Data Sources

This article presents findings from the AHS, the HPS, and administrative data on HUD’s largest rental assistance programs. The descriptions below also include technical information on how each source collects information on race and ethnicity.

American Housing Survey

The AHS, sponsored by HUD and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, is the most comprehensive national housing survey in the United States. A longitudinal survey at the housing-unit level, the AHS is administered every 2 years in odd-numbered years and collects information on the physical condition of homes and neighborhoods, the composition of the nation’s housing, the costs of financing and maintaining homes, and characteristics of the people who live in these homes. In 2015, the AHS introduced detailed racial and ethnic categories for Asian Americans and for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders as part of its data collection. Before 2015, the AHS asked respondents to choose one or more races they consider themselves to be from several options: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Some Other Race. Starting in 2015, respondents who select the Asian or the Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander options are given followup questions that ask them to select one or more detailed race categories. For Asians, the detailed categories are Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and some other detailed Asian group. For the Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander group, the detailed categories include Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, and some other Pacific Islander group. The detailed categories for respondents who select one detailed race are released to the public, with responses for those selecting more than one detailed race group collapsed into a “two or more Asian” or “two or more Pacific Islander” group.

Household Pulse Survey

Originally fielded in April 2020, the HPS is an experimental, longitudinal survey designed to quickly capture information about the social and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and includes questions about housing circumstances. The HPS collects detailed race and ethnicity information. The current phase of the HPS (Phase 3.8) captures ethnicity with the question, “Are you of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?” Response options are (1) No, not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin; (2) Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano; (3) Yes, Puerto Rican; (4) Yes, Cuban; and (5) Yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (specify). In public use files, these responses are collapsed into Hispanic or not Hispanic categories. The HPS captures race with the question, “What is your race? Please select all that apply.” Response options are (1) White (specify); (2) Black or African American (specify); (3) American Indian or Alaska Native (specify); (4) Asian Indian; (5) Chinese; (6) Filipino; (7) Japanese; (8) Korean; (9) Vietnamese; (10) Other Asian (specify); (11), Native Hawaiian; (12) Chamorro; (13) Samoan; and (14) Other Pacific Islander (specify). Given small sample sizes and to avoid disclosure, the HPS public use files collapse race responses into four categories: White alone; Black alone; Asian alone; and Any other race alone, or race in combination.

HUD Administrative Data

HUD administrative data on public and assisted housing programs contain detailed information about individuals and families living in public and assisted housing. State and local administrators collect information for the public housing and Housing Choice Voucher program through Form HUD-50058 and the Moving to Work HUD-50058 form, and this information is stored in the Public and Indian Housing Information Center. Form HUD-50058 uses five race codes: (1) White; (2) Black/African American; (3) American Indian/Alaska Native; (4) Asian; and (5) Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander. The form also contains two ethnicity codes: (1) Hispanic or Latino; and (2) not Hispanic or Latino. Public housing agency staff are instructed to use the same race and ethnicity codes that families use to best indicate each household member’s race and ethnicity, and respondents can select multiple race codes.

Private building owners use Form HUD-50059 to collect information about individuals and families living in assisted multifamily housing; HUD stores the collected information in the Tenant Rental Assistance Certification System (TRACS). Every household member (and parents or guardians for those under age 18) is asked to complete and self-certify Form HUD-27061-H, HUD’s Race and Ethnic Data Reporting Form. The form includes two ethnic categories: (1) Hispanic or Latino; and (2) not Hispanic or Latino. It also includes five race categories: (1) American Indian or Alaskan Native; (2) Asian; (3) Black or African American; (4) White; or (5) Other. Completing the form is optional, and no penalty is imposed for declining to report this information. Multifamily owners are instructed not to complete these forms on their tenants’ behalf; however, if the race is reported on this form, the owner must also report it on Form HUD-50059.

Key Findings by Data Source

Key findings for each data source examined are highlighted below.

American Housing Survey

According to the AHS, the United States had 128.5 million occupied housing units in 2021. Of these, 6.9 million (5.4%) were headed by a householder who identified as Asian alone, and 470,000 (0.4%) were headed by a householder who identified as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. These weighted numbers translate to approximately 64,000 unweighted occupied households, with approximately 3,700 unweighted households headed by an Asian American householder, and approximately 215 households headed by a Native Hawaiian householder. The unweighted counts highlight the difficult task of disaggregating AANHPI groups to better understand within-group variation. Overall AANHPI populations are small, and the number of units housing that population represents an even smaller number because not everyone lives in a one-person household. The analysis of AHS data presented here is disaggregated for the AANHPI householder population by detailed race groups to demonstrate findings from the 2021 data on AANHPI housing characteristics. We find that the AHS provides accurate estimates of important housing characteristics for AANHPI groups, but specific areas require more robust data.

Our analysis uses all available detailed categories from the AHS for the Asian alone category but combines the detailed NHPI categories into two groups for: (1) Native Hawaiian and (2) Other Pacific Islander. In the tables that follow, we compare detailed Asian American and NHPI housing estimates to the overall AANHPI total to see the extent of within-group variation. For each table, we analyze the degree to which AHS data can and cannot be used to study the housing circumstances of detailed AANHPI groups. Below, we show the housing characteristics of detailed Asian American and NHPI groups in terms of region of residence, housing tenure, household income, total housing cost, and housing adequacy.

Region of Residence

Table 1: Householders’ Detailed Race by Region of Residence

¹ Householders who selected more than one race or more than one detailed race are not included in the estimates.
² Estimates are rounded to nearest thousand. Subject Definitions: Available at www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ahs/tech-documentation/def-errors-changes.2021.html.
 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Housing Survey — 2021 National Public Use File.

In 2021, 42.8 percent of Asian American householders in the United States lived in the West Census Region, 23.6 percent in the South, 21.7 percent in the Northeast, and 12 percent in the Midwest (table 1). However, the AHS shows that when these data are analyzed according to detailed racial categories, substantial regional variation exists in residential location. Most detailed Asian American race groups had sizable householder populations living in the West, but the percentages ranged from 25.9 percent for Asian Indian householders to 70.9 percent for Japanese householders. More than 30 percent of Asian Indian and Vietnamese householders lived in the South compared with less than 20 percent of Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese householders. A larger proportion of Chinese householders lived in the Northeast (31.4%) than the Asian American group as a whole or any other detailed race groupings. Approximately 1.2 million Asian Americans identified as Some Other Asian Group only, meaning that the AHS did not collect data on the detailed grouping with which they identified. Approximately 19.5 percent of those who selected Some Other Asian Group only lived in the Midwest, a larger share than that of most other detailed race grouping. Among Pacific Islanders, which include householders who identified as Native Hawaiian or any other Pacific Islander race group, most lived in the West (48%) or the South (33.2%). More than 70 percent of Native Hawaiian householders lived in the West compared with 41.5 percent of Other Pacific Islanders. The latter finding was statistically significant at P<0.1, even considering the relatively small sample size of NHPI householders.

AANHPI Homeowners and Renters, Household Income, and Housing Costs

Table 2 shows tenure rates among AANHPI groups. “Tenure” refers to whether the householders own or rent their units (with or without payment of rent). The homeownership rate was 60.7 percent for householders identifying as Asian American and 40.6 percent for NHPI (table 2). For the detailed Asian American categories, the rates ranged from 55.6 percent for Koreans to 64.8 percent for Chinese. Although small changes in homeownership rates — even changes of only 1 to 2 percentage points — can be meaningful, the differences in homeownership rates among the detailed Asian American groups and the overall Asian American group within the AHS sample were not large enough to be statistically significant. For example, the difference in estimated homeownership rates between the Chinese group and the Asian alone group was not statistically different. The same was true for the homeownership rates of the two detailed NHPI groups, which were not statistically different from the homeownership rate of Pacific Islanders alone. However, the difference in homeownership rates between the Korean group and the Chinese group, at approximately 9 percentage points, was statistically significant. The latter finding provides some evidence of within-group variation in tenure for the Asian American householder population. The sample differences in ownership rates within detailed Asian American groups suggest that additional differences may exist in the homeownership rates of the detailed Asian American groups; however, the frequent lack of statistical significance indicates that a larger AHS sample of AANHPI groups is needed to draw more definitive conclusions for these populations.

Table 2: Householders’ Detailed Race by Tenure for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

Table 3 shows median household income and median housing costs by tenure status for detailed Asian American and NHPI groups. Median housing costs include rent and utilities for renters and mortgage payments, utilities, insurance, and taxes for owners. As shown in table 3, Asian Indian householders differed from the estimates for the Asian alone group on both measures. Asian Indian householders who were owners had a median household income of $150,000, and those who were renters had a median income of $93,000; both estimates were statistically different from the estimates for the Asian alone group. Vietnamese householders who rented had median incomes of $45,000, $21,000 lower than the estimate for the Asian alone householders.

Table 3: Householders’ Detailed Race by Tenure, Household Income, Total Housing Costs, and the Ratio of Housing Costs Over Household Income for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

¹Householders who selected more than one race or more than one detailed race are not included in the estimates.
²Householders with zero or negative income or those occupying a unit without paying rent are not included in the estimates
³Annual housing costs are computed by multiplying the estimated monthly total housing cost by 12.
Subject Definitions: Available at www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ahs/tech-documentation/def-errors-changes.2021.html.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Housing Survey — 2021 National Public Use File.

Table 4 shows housing costs as a percentage of household income, also called the housing cost ratio. Households with housing cost ratios of more than 30 percent are considered cost burdened and may have less money to spend on essential goods such as child care, health care, or food. Asian Americans as a group have housing cost ratios of 21.2 percent for owners and 28.7 percent for renters. Within-group variation in cost ratios existed among the detailed Asian groups. Chinese and Korean renter householders were cost burdened, spending more than 30 percent of their household income on housing costs. These differences were statistically significant from the estimate for Asian American householders. Although both Japanese and Vietnamese renter householders also had cost ratios of more than 30 percent, these differences were not statistically different from an estimate of 30 percent or from the total for all Asian renter householders.  Asian Indian renter households had a cost ratio of 22.5 percent, which was approximately 6 points lower than the estimate for all Asian householders. Pacific Islander renter householders — both Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders — have housing cost ratios of more than 30 percent, but these estimates were not statistically different from 30 percent, suggesting that a larger sample may be needed to draw conclusions about these groups on this measure.

Table 4: Householders’ Detailed Race by Tenure and the Ratio of Housing Costs to Household Income for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

¹Householders who selected more than one race or more than one detailed race are not included in these estimates.
²Householders with zero or negative income or those occupying a unit without paying rent are not included in the estimates.
³Annual housing costs are computed by multiplying the estimated monthly total housing cost by 12.
Subject Definitions: Available at www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ahs/tech-documentation/def-errors-changes.2021.html.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Housing Survey — 2021 National Public Use File.

Housing Adequacy

Housing adequacy is a key measure in the AHS conveying how well U.S. housing stock meets standards of decency and suitability. Physical adequacy— one component of housing quality—is significant because of how it relates to the most prevalent housing problem of affordability. That is, households often obtain housing adequacy by accepting higher cost burdens. Moreover, when racial and ethnic discrimination, segregation, and neighborhood preference limit housing options, the affordability-adequacy tradeoff is potentially acute.

The housing adequacy measure includes three classifications: “severely inadequate,” “moderately inadequate,” and “adequate.” Housing units classified as “severely inadequate” meet at least one of the following conditions:

• Plumbing. Lacking hot or cold piped water, lacking a full bathroom, or sharing a bathroom with non-household members.

• Heating. Having been uncomfortably cold the previous winter for 24 hours or more because heating equipment broke down, and this equipment broke down at least three times the previous winter for at least six hours each time.

• Lack of electricity.

• Wiring. Having all of the following electrical problems: exposed wiring, a room without a working wall outlet, and three blown fuses or tripped circuit breakers in the last three months. 

• Upkeep. Having at least five of the following six maintenance problems: leaks external to structure in the last 12 months, leaks internal to structure in the last 12 months, holes in floors, holes or open cracks (wider than a dime) in walls or ceilings, more than 8 inches by 11 inches of peeling paint or broken plaster, signs of rats in the last 12 months.

If a housing unit meets at least one of the following conditions, it was classified as “moderately inadequate:”

• Upkeep. Having only three or four of the six problems listed in the Upkeep section under Severely Inadequate housing. 

• Other. Having any one of the following conditions: All flush toilets broken down simultaneously for six hours or more on at least three occasions during the past three months; having unvented gas, oil, or kerosene heaters as the main heating equipment; lacking a kitchen sink, lacking a working refrigerator, lacking cooking equipment (stove, burners, or microwave oven), or sharing the kitchen with non-household members. 

Housing units that do not meet the conditions of either the “severely inadequate” or “moderately inadequate” categories are classified as “adequate.”

The 2021 AHS measured the adequacy of approximately 128.5 million occupied housing units (table 5). Of the approximately 121.8 million units classified as “adequate” (94.8% of all occupied units, SE=271,000), approximately 6.7 million households (5.5%) identify as Asian alone compared with 427,000 (0.4%) Pacific Islander, 94.8 million (77.8%) White alone, 16.6 million (13.6%) Black alone, 1.4 million (1.2%) American Indian or Alaska Native alone, and 1.9 million (1.5%) Two or More Races.

Of the approximately 4.9 million units classified as “moderately inadequate” (3.8% of all occupied units, SE=144,000) approximately 176,000 households (3.6%) identify as Asian alone compared with 3.3 million (68.8%) identifying as White alone, 1.1 million (21.7%) identifying as Black alone, 118,000 (2.4%) identifying as American Indian or Alaska Native alone, and 134,000 (2.8%) identifying as Two or More Races. Because of the small sample size of the Pacific Islander alone group in the 2021 AHS, estimates for Moderately Inadequate housing in this group were withheld to avoid disclosure.

Approximately 1.8 million units are classified as “severely inadequate” (1.4% of all occupied units, SE=81,000). Approximately 69,000 households living in Severely Inadequate units (3.8%) identify as Asian alone compared with 1.2 million (63.6%) identifying as White alone, 500,000 (26.0%) identifying as Black alone, 67,000 (3.7%) identifying as American Indian or Alaska Native alone, and 45,000 (2.5%) identifying as Two or More Races. Because of the small sample size, estimates for Severely Inadequate housing for Pacific Islanders were withheld to avoid disclosure.

The implications of both the availability and constraints of housing adequacy data for detailed groups are clear: availability allows us to see which populations are overburdened or underserved, with the aim of understanding, in turn, which communities are being served by crucial programs and services. We cannot make similar assessments for populations whose estimates are either unavailable or so small that their publication risks disclosure. For the Asian alone category, sufficient data exists in the 2021 AHS sample to indicate the rates of housing inadequacy this group experiences as well as how those rates compare with other groups; slightly more Asian-alone households experience severe housing inadequacy compared to households identifying as Two or More Races and American Indian or Alaska Native alone, but Asian-alone households are faring better than White alone and Black alone households which experience severe inadequacy most prevalently. Similarly, AHS 2021 data provide estimates for housing adequacy among Pacific Islander households, but because of the small sample size, estimates of Moderately Inadequate and Severely Inadequate housing in this group are not available.

Table 5. Housing Adequacy of All Occupied Units by Race

¹ This item reflects categorizations of housing quality defined by HUD. See AHS 2021 Subject Definitions for more information.
² Estimates in thousands of housing units unless indicated. Weighting consistent with the 2020 decennial census. Blank cells represent zero; Z rounds to zero; “.” represents not applicable or no cases in sample; S represents estimates that did not meet publication standards or were withheld to avoid disclosure. Figures may not add to total because more than one category may apply to a unit (applicable here in particular to components of adequacy, such as plumbing or heating).
³ Estimates are rounded to the nearest thousand.
* Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Housing Survey — 2021 National Public Use File.

Household Pulse Survey.

The HPS captures detailed information from respondents about race and ethnicity; however, aggregate statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau and the publicly released data files do not contain detailed race information that allows users to examine AANHPI subgroups. Because of sample size limitations, AA subgroups are collapsed into a single Asian alone category. NHPI groups are collapsed into an “Other” category that also includes non-NHPI race groups, preventing separate analysis of the NHPI group. Disaggregated analyses of the HPS are possible; however, researchers must request access to restricted use files from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Despite this limitation, however, the HPS reveals several key findings regarding the housing status of Asian Americans during the previous year. According to the 2021 AHS, there are approximately 45.99 million U.S. renter households and approximately 6.95 million of these renter households are headed by a person who identifies as Asian alone. When examining HPS housing insecurity metrics by race category from May 2022 to May 2023, renter households headed by Asian persons emerge as a unique subpopulation. Approximately 16 percent of Asian American renter households reported being behind on their rent payments during the previous year, and approximately 3 percent reported experiencing a fear of imminent eviction. Asian American renters have characteristics that are similar to those of persons who identify as being in the Other racial category, which includes persons who identify as being in multiple racial categories. In general, Asian American renter households face higher rates of housing insecurity than do White renter households but lower rates of housing insecurity than do Black renter households.

The United States has approximately 82.5 million homeowner households, including approximately 4.2 million homeowner households headed by a person who identifies as Asian American. When examining HPS housing insecurity metrics by race category from May 2022 to May 2023, homeowner households headed by an Asian person emerge as a unique subpopulation (figure 2). Approximately 8.9 percent of Asian American homeowner households reported being behind on mortgage payments during the previous year, and approximately 1.2 percent reported experiencing a fear of imminent foreclosure. In general, Asian American homeowner households face the second-highest rates of housing insecurity out of all race categories. Among the general population of homeowners, approximately 5 percent reported being behind on mortgage payments, and approximately 1 percent reported experiencing a fear of imminent foreclosure during the previous year (May 2022 to May 2023).

HUD Administrative Data

HUD provides housing assistance to approximately 9 million people and 4.5 million households annually. In 2022, approximately 407,400 persons who identified as Asian American (n=303,100) or as Native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders (n=104,300) lived in public and assisted housing.
When we examined the count of AANHPI persons by HUD program category, several notable trends emerged (figure 3). First, approximately 71 percent of Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander persons receive assistance through HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher program. Comparatively, approximately half of Asian persons received assistance from the Housing Choice Voucher program. Among HUD-assisted persons identifying as Asian in 2022, approximately one-third received assistance from the project-based Section 8 program. In addition, a significant share of HUD-assisted persons identifying as Asian receive assistance through HUD’s Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program; approximately 12 percent of HUD-assisted Asian adults aged 62 or older participate in this HUD program. The Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program is one of the smallest rental assistance programs in HUD’s overall portfolio.

Key geographic differences emerged for specific subgroups of AANHPI persons (table 6). Among HUD-assisted persons identifying as Asian in 2022, approximately 75 percent lived in five states: California, New York, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Washington. Similarly, approximately 75 percent of persons who identified as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander lived in five jurisdictions: Hawaii, New York, Guam, California, and Washington.

*Rounded to nearest 100.

HUD administrative forms capture detailed information about a household’s total annual income. On average, the total annual income of HUD-assisted households is approximately $18,000; the median annual income across all HUD-assisted households is approximately $13,600. We observed significant differences in annual incomes between AANHPI subgroups and the general HUD-assisted population (figure 4). Generally, AANHPI persons report higher total annual incomes; notably, the mean total annual income for HUD-assisted persons identifying as Asian is $22,650, which represents a household income that is nearly $5,000 higher than that of the average HUD-assisted person. Note that the estimates shown are not adjusted, and this variation could be attributable to the geographic concentration of these subgroups.

In summary, the above findings underscore the potential for researchers, administrators, and policymakers to leverage HUD administration data on public and assisted housing programs to disaggregate data for AANHPI subgroups. Data disaggregation allows users to better understand the unique housing characteristics of these important subgroups; PD&R encourages researchers to further consider ways in which they can use HUD administrative data to advance housing research about AANHPI subgroups.

Discussion

As highlighted above, the federal government’s recent focus on collecting and analyzing disaggregated data for historically marginalized populations supports research about the housing characteristics of the AANHPI population. Thanks to emerging opportunities to separate data for specific AANHPI subgroups, the research community can increasingly conduct analyses that offer unique perspectives about the housing needs of special populations.

Areas for Future Action and Research

The above analyses present several important, high-level findings, but more research is needed to understand the unique characteristics of AANHPI householders. Areas for future research include the following:

• Analyze Restricted-Use Data. Presented analyses used publicly available datasets and variables to underscore research opportunities in this space; however, further disaggregated data are available for researchers who request (and are granted access to) restricted use files. The HPS, which collects detailed race categories but does not release detailed data to the public, is one example. Researchers interested in accessing restricted HUD administrative data should contact HUD through its data license process. Researchers interested in using HPS microdata for the HPS or AHS should contact the U.S. Census Bureau to apply for access.

• Leverage Data Linkage Approaches. PD&R supports the use of data linkage techniques to develop useful data products for research. For example, although HUD administrative data capture information for some AANHPI subgroups, HUD administrative data can be linked with the  American Community Survey to further isolate specific subpopulations. Researchers interested in studying AANHPI householders should consider how they can merge certain data sources to better understand this population’s unique housing characteristics. Another potential data linkage that would benefit researchers studying this topic would be an examination of state-level administrative datasets available for research in the states with the highest concentration of AANHPI subgroups. If state-level administrative data are linked with HUD administrative data, the housing community can better understand specific housing characteristics of these important subpopulations. 

• Support Additional Collection of Disaggregated Data. Currently, HUD is successfully providing disaggregated AANHPI data through the AHS as well as the Computerized Homes Underwriting Management System, and Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting requirements. In addition, the HOME Investment Partnerships program, like the HUD Housing Counseling program, collects aggregate race data on initial occupants of housing investments. 

Conclusion

PD&R encourages the housing research community to pursue disaggregated data collection and analysis initiatives. The analyses presented here demonstrate how a disaggregated lens on administrative and survey housing data can support broader efforts to identify and reduce disparities in access to safe and affordable housing. Because HUD already collects data according to detailed racial categories, including for AANHPI groups, we were able to identify statistically significant differences between detailed groups based on region of residence, tenure (renter or homeowner), housing cost, income, and housing adequacy. At the same time, we identified the need for additional data to understand some aspects of housing characteristics and quality in more detail, such as the extent of Severely Inadequate and Moderately Inadequate housing among Pacific Islanders. Although the analyses in this article present several notable findings, a significant opportunity exists to further disaggregate data to better understand the unique housing characteristics of the AANHPI population.