Explore Public Housing at the Building Level
The HUD Public Housing Buildings dataset provides a detailed view of the federally assisted public housing stock across the United States. Sourced from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the dataset represents individual public housing buildings, making it possible to move beyond broad housing totals and examine the physical properties that make up public housing developments.
Each record identifies a building and connects it to its housing authority and development, along with information about its location, size, physical characteristics, occupancy, and program status. For researchers, planners, housing officials, and community organizations, that building-level detail makes the dataset particularly useful for understanding how public housing is distributed and how the inventory differs from one community to another.
Understand the Size and Shape of the Public Housing Stock
Public housing takes many forms, from scattered-site and single-family properties to townhouses, low-rise developments, and high-rise apartment buildings. The HUD Public Housing Buildings data helps users examine that variation directly.
Building type identifies the physical configuration of a property, while unit counts provide a measure of its size. Occupancy variables offer additional context, including occupied and vacant units and percentage occupied. Together, these measures can help distinguish large multifamily developments from smaller properties and reveal differences in the composition and use of public housing across locations.
Building status information adds another important layer, helping users identify whether properties are active or have another administrative status within HUD's inventory.
Examine the Age of Public Housing
The dataset also provides a window into when public housing properties were built and entered service. Construction dates and dates of full availability can be used to study the age of individual buildings and the broader age profile of the public housing inventory.
That matters for questions involving modernization, capital investment, redevelopment, and long-term housing needs. Users can identify concentrations of older public housing, compare stock built during different periods, or examine how the age of buildings varies among housing authorities and communities.
On Social Explorer, stock age profiles make these patterns easier to compare without having to assemble the underlying building records yourself.
Put Buildings in Geographic Context
Housing conditions are shaped by place, so the HUD Public Housing Buildings dataset includes geographic information that connects buildings to the communities around them. Address and geographic identifiers support analysis across locations, while urban/rural and other geographic classification fields provide additional context for comparing different types of communities.
Social Explorer makes it easier to explore these patterns alongside other demographic, socioeconomic, housing, and community data. That means users can move from locating public housing buildings to asking broader questions about the populations, housing markets, and neighborhoods surrounding them.
Track RAD and Changes in the Public Housing Landscape
The dataset also includes indicators related to HUD's Rental Assistance Demonstration, or RAD. RAD allows qualifying public housing properties to convert to long-term Section 8 rental assistance contracts, making RAD status an important measure for understanding changes in the federally assisted housing inventory.
Researchers can use these fields to identify buildings associated with RAD activity and examine how program participation intersects with factors such as building age, location, occupancy, and housing authority.
Explore HUD Public Housing Buildings on Social Explorer
Social Explorer brings the HUD Public Housing Buildings data into an environment built for comparison and community analysis. In addition to detailed building information, percent-share tables and stock age profiles help turn a large administrative inventory into patterns that are easier to understand and communicate.
Use the dataset for housing policy research, community development planning, public housing inventory analysis, fair housing research, or any project that requires a closer look at the physical and administrative characteristics of federally assisted public housing.
Start Exploring Public Housing Data
See where public housing buildings are located, compare the composition and age of the stock across communities, and connect HUD housing information with the broader demographic and socioeconomic data available by signing up for a free trial ofSocial Explorer.