Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) Data 2022

The CHAS dataset provides detailed counts of households facing housing challenges across HUD‑defined geographic areas. Its core purpose is to estimate the number of low‑income households (at 30%, 50%, and 80% of area median income) experiencing housing problems such as cost burden, overcrowding, or lacking kitchen/plumbing facilities. The data also highlights issues like affordability mismatch, lead paint risk, and how housing needs vary across household types including elderly, disabled, and minority households. CHAS is organized into themed tables, each containing multiple dimensions (like tenure, income, or housing problems). Every possible combination of these dimensions is provided as a “bucket,” giving users granular household counts but requiring them to calculate percentages themselves. CHAS is built from custom tabulations of Census Bureau data, originally from decennial censuses and now from the American Community Survey. HUD updates the dataset periodically to improve accuracy and usability. Key definitions include HAMFI (HUD’s adjusted area median family income), household income, types of housing problems, cost burden levels, and detailed disability categories.