Based on the detailed nature of the mortgage questions in the AHS and the interviewer’s ability to aid the respondent in correctly identifying which type of mortgage they have, differences between the ASEC and AHS were expected and occurred.  The AHS showed a smaller percentage of households with a primary mortgage and owned without a mortgage, and higher percentage of households with a secondary mortgage than the ASEC.  There was less of a difference between the ASEC and ACS for percentage of households with a primary and a secondary mortgage than with the AHS.  This should be expected because the same wording was used in both surveys.  The adaptation of the ASEC to not allow a household to have only a secondary mortgage and no primary mortgage made the difference between the ASEC and ACS for primary mortgages smaller than the difference between the ASEC and AHS.  Given the results of the ASEC comparison to both surveys, it is our conclusion that the new ASEC mortgage questions are capturing the mortgage status information as expected and will provide satisfactory results for use in the SPM.

The “Observations from the Interagency Technical Working Group on Developing a Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM)” <//www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/SPM _TWGObservations.pdf>, notes that the National Academy of Sciences emphasized the need to adjust the poverty thresholds by ownership status, distinguishing between renters, owners with mortgages and owners without mortgages, as shelter expenses can vary significantly for each. Thus, the supplemental poverty thresholds make a distinction between each. In accordance with this objective, the 2010 Annual and Social Economic (ASEC) Supplement to the Current Population Survey (2009 income year) added questions to establish a presence of a mortgage. The added questions were taken from the American Community Survey (ACS) and they are as follow:

1. Do you or any member of this household have a mortgage, deed of trust, contract to purchase, or similar debt on this property? (Variable: HMORT_YN)
2. Do you or any member of this household have a second mortgage or a home equity loan on this property? (Variable: HSMORT_YN)

To evaluate the quality of the new 2010 ASEC mortgage questions we compared similar data collected in the ACS and the American Housing Survey (AHS) by a number of selected characteristics. As there are differences in the purpose and the methodology of the three surveys, there are some important caveats that should be noted when comparing them. The key purpose of the ASEC is to provide timely and detailed estimates of income, poverty, and health insurance coverage at the national level. The ACS offers broad comprehensive information on social, demographic, economic, and basic housing data to produce local area estimates. The AHS collects data on the quality of the nation’s housing specifically to address housing policy issues. Data from the AHS is collected every other year, returning to the same addresses year after year, whereas the ASEC collects data annually with about half the sample addresses overlapping each year, and the ACS draws a new sample each month. Both the ASEC and AHS conduct the survey using trained field representatives and telephone interviewers. The ACS is mostly conducted using self reporting on paper questionnaires and mailback, with a percentage done by personal or telephone interview for nonresponse follow up. Differences in emphasis, sample design, collection techniques, and processing methods should be kept in mind with this analysis. Further information on the complexities of comparing the housing data in the ACS and AHS can be found at <//www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2009/acs/2009_Schwartz_01.html> . For further documentation about the CPS ASEC, see < //www.census.gov/prod/techdoc/cps/cpsmar12.pdf>