U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau recently announced that they will be redesigning the American Housing Survey. Planned changes will be incorporated in 2011, 2013 and 2015. In 2011 and 2013, the AHS will increase the number of metropolitan areas surveyed to 30 in each year, effectively adding 120,000 cases to the survey per year. It will also reduce the number of core survey questions and introduce a system of rotating topic modules, including transportation and walkability, healthy homes, accessibility, energy efficiency and disaster planning. In 2015, the survey will make its most significant change by drawing a new sample, which will allow AHS to produce estimates at the Census Division level, as well as for at least some states, rather than only at Regional levels. Read More…