Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS)

HUD’s Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) data, derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), quantify housing needs and challenges by income level, tenure, and household type. Indicators include housing-cost burden, overcrowding, and housing adequacy, allowing analysts to identify households facing affordability pressures or substandard living conditions. The CHAS dataset provides detailed tabulations at multiple geographic levels—state, county, city, and census tract—making it one of the most important sources for assessing housing disparities and unmet needs in U.S. communities.

CHAS data are used extensively to inform local Consolidated Plans, fair-housing assessments, and resource-allocation strategies for HUD programs such as HOME and Community Development Block Grants (CDBG). On a data platform, CHAS integrates with income, demographic, and employment datasets to support comprehensive affordability and equity analysis. Planners and policymakers use it to prioritize investments, design affordable-housing strategies, and measure progress toward fair-housing objectives. Because of its consistent methodology and alignment with ACS variables, CHAS enables longitudinal tracking of housing conditions across decades. The dataset is also valuable for academic and nonprofit research on housing insecurity, displacement risk, and the intersection of housing affordability with labor, transportation, and environmental factors. By providing standardized, small-area housing statistics, CHAS supports data-driven decision-making that advances equitable housing and community development outcomes nationwide.