Attachment 1 - DRAFT Requirements.pdf

DRAFT - Requirements SUBJECT TO CHANGE/UPDATES

1.0 DESCRIPTION OF COMMERCIAL HOUSING DATA FILE REQUIREMENTS

1.1 Background

The U.S. Census Bureau (USCB or Census Bureau) serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy. It is the largest statistical agency in the United States (U.S.). The USCB’s mission is built around large-scale surveys and censuses. It collects, tabulates, and disseminates a large volume and wide variety of statistics about the people, housing, and economy of the U.S. These statistics provide basic yardsticks needed to measure, understand, anticipate, and respond to changes to the U.S. economy and American society.

Under U.S. Code Title 13 § 6, the Census Bureau conducts research and production work using administrative records and third-party data to enhance numerous programs and statistical products. The Census Bureau enters into agreements with data providers, including federal, state, and private entities, to acquire data files. These data are used to support planning and conducting future decennial censuses, current surveys such as the American Community Survey (ACS) and the American Housing Survey (AHS), the development of survey frames, the maintenance of Census Bureau geographic data, and other Census Bureau demographic, geographic, and economic research and production work. Linking the housing data to survey data may reduce the need to directly ask respondents certain survey questions, such as housing unit type, lot size, financing, and number of stories in the structure.

1.2 Purpose

The purpose of this requirement is to acquire commercial datasets containing housing data for the 50 states, the district of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories (where possible).

The Census Bureau will use the data acquired via this requirement to continue carrying out the production work underway, which aims to reduce respondent burden and data collection costs, as well as to continue research to find new uses for the data obtained.

1.3 General Requirements

These datasets shall be sourced from local public records, such as property tax assessments, and non-public sources, such as Multiple Listing Services (MLS) listings. The data may also be enhanced by the data providers, most importantly by the provision of estimated home values from a vetted automated valuation model. The USCB will rely on the data provisioner’s expertise to fully understand the data-generating process underlying the data to meet USCB statistical quality standards. It is of utmost importance that the contractor thoroughly understands the process by which public records are obtained, collated, harmonized, and enhanced to produce the files finally delivered to the USCB.

The Contractor shall provide data file(s) as specified below.

1.3.1 The Contractor shall provide readily available datasets from public records or other source which can be linked to USCB-held data at the person, property, or housing unit level, for example the American Community Survey and American Housing Survey. The vintage of the records in the databases shall be the most current available.

1.3.2 The contractor shall deliver the data as a single file, or as few files as practical considering data format, on schedule. The data elements shall consist of no errors 98% of the time.

The USCB requires the ability to use the data file upon receipt without additional processing at the USCB.

1.3.3 The contractor shall deliver the preliminary data file(s) within 30 days of a date agreed upon after the contract award.

1.3.4 The contractor shall ensure the most current information as of the time of delivery.

1.4 Dataset Requirements

1.4.1 Metadata: The contractor shall deliver a data dictionary or description of data fields with valid values with each delivery. The metadata shall include the last date of update for each variable, along with any other relevant information. It should also include a flag indicating how the value was obtained and processed: collected directly from data source (list source), compiled from other vendors (list vendors), edited/estimated/imputed (provide documentation on methodology applied), or if the value was not applicable.

1.4.2 Vintage: The contractor shall deliver the most current information in each data file delivery on an agreed-to schedule.

1.4.3 Data File Format: The contractor shall deliver the data file in a single, fixed-length ACSII format or shapefile/GeoJSON format, where possible, via a secure file transfer protocol like Managed File Transfer (MFT).

1.4.4 Linkage keys between different units of analysis (parcels, assessment records, housing units) should be included in all files when available (or crosswalks between different unit types should be delivered separately).

1.5 Data Elements

1.5.1 Public records, including property tax assessment and sales, mortgage information, and foreclosure data—This requirement includes data available through public records. It includes, at a minimum, information about property tax assessments, deeds, mortgages, assignments & releases, pre-foreclosure and foreclosure variables. It includes data elements covering, at a minimum, year built, owner occupied status, mortgage amount, mortgage terms, mortgage interest rate, mortgage outstanding balance, mortgage loan size at origination, lot size, type of building and number of units, land use, names and addresses of owners, assesses, lenders, buyers and sellers, dates of transactions, assessed, market and last transaction value, property taxes paid, housing unit characteristics including number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, living space in square feet, heating and cooling information on basements, garages, date of transaction, and other property characteristics. All in-scope properties, including both residential and non-residential uses, should be included if possible. Additional record types covering topics such as eviction notices, code violations, building and renovation permits, mortgage servicing, homeowners insurance premiums and state, local or federal tax incentives or other subsidies are also welcome.

1.5.2 Rental data—This requirement includes, at a minimum, information on rental units, rental unit characteristics including number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage, other unit characteristics including in-unit laundry or air conditioning, and monthly rent (including whether utilities are included in rent), and date of lease or availability. This may be sourced from rental unit listings or other sources. This information should include the unit-level address if possible, but building-level address information is still welcome.

1.5.3 Modeled Housing Value data—This requirement includes, at a minimum, the current estimated property value. There may be multiple models used to estimate the value of a property. If multiple models are used to estimate the value of a property, we are interested in each one. Additional related data elements, such as the date the value estimate was produced and the confidence score for the value estimate, are welcome.

1.5.4 Open Liens—This requirement includes, at a minimum, information from open liens modeling, as well as the characteristics of open liens, such as the lien position and amount remaining. Additional data elements related to these addresses, such as the first lien amount and the date of the first lien, are welcome.

1.5.5 Multiple Listing Service data—This requirement includes, at a minimum, information typically submitted by property owners to their local MLS affiliate. It includes information such as the number of bedrooms, description, list price, date of listing, Homeowners Association/Condominium Owners Association (HOA/COA) dues (if applicable), number of bathrooms, days on the market, and the off-market date. This should include both units offered for sale and units offered for rent. Additional information on whether this information could be provided more frequently (up to real-time) would be welcome.

1.5.6 Parcel Boundaries data and associated attributes including but not limited to: site addresses including unit designation, any attributes about the structure type (eg single family home, farmland, empty lot etc.), parcel zoning or use, number of structures with the parcel, by tax parcel. This Parcel data should be linkable to the deeds and assessment records. Parcel data should also include a geographic representation of the spatial boundaries of the parcel. Parcel boundary information should be delivered as a geospatial file or series of files, in ESRI shapefile or similar format (GeoJSON, ESRI GeoDatabase, and GPKG formats are also acceptable).

1.5.7 Master Address list for each parcel - this requirement includes, at a minimum, a list of valid addresses at that tax parcel, including unit level designations.

1.5.8 Homeowners Association/Condominium Owners Association listing data—This requirement includes, at a minimum, the status of whether an address is a member of an HOA/COA, as well as the dues for that association at that address, if available. Additional data elements related to homeowners/condominium associations, such as the association name, are welcome.

1.5.9 Vacancy/occupied status—This requirement includes, at a minimum, an indicator of the vacancy status for each address, including details on what sources informed this status. Additional data elements related to the vacancy status of addresses are welcome.

1.5.10 Enhanced Characteristics List—This requirement includes any files that utilize modeling or alternate data sources to generate characteristics of properties. In particular, information on modelled risk of exposure to natural hazards such as floods or wildfires, access to local amenities such as libraries, parks or open space or enhanced information on the final business owner(s) of rental properties are welcome.

1.6 Technical Support

The Contractor shall provide technical support regarding file structure and delivery, file contents and completeness, and data consistency over time. The contractor shall work to resolve technical issues within 48 business hours of being notified.

1.7 Intended Data Uses

The usage of the data will meet USCB Disclosure Avoidance standards. The USCB will not release any identifiable information obtained through this requirement. The USCB will not use the data for marketing or compliance purposes. The USCB will not resell the data.

The USCB Statistical Quality Standards and Disclosure Avoidance Methodology can be found at https://www.census.gov/about/policies/privacy/statistical_safeguards.html.

1.8 Data Usage and Retention Rights

The USCB will commingle the data obtained through this requirement with existing USCB data. The USCB will not segregate vendors' data from USCB or other data; therefore, the data will, in effect, become the property of the USCB to be used for any approved Title 13 purpose.

The contractor shall provide data usage rights to the data, allowing the USCB to share with other Federal Agencies and publish papers on topics that used the data files in the course of research. Any other federal agencies with access to the data files obtained through this requirement will treat it just as the USCB would -- they will not release any identifiable information obtained through this requirement, will not use the data for marketing or compliance purposes, resell the data, or publish or release comparisons of purchased data.

The USCB will retain the data under this requirement indefinitely. By delivering the data files after contract award, the contractor gives the USCB the right to retain and use the purchased data files indefinitely, with all financial consideration proposed as part of the initial pricing.

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