D-1028.4(CCM) Definitions for Initial Housing Unit Followup U.S. Flash

Attachment I
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OMB No. xxxx-xxxx: Approval Expires: xx/xx/xxxx
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

D-1028.4(CCM)
(3-30-2009)

Economics and Statistics Administration

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

DEFINITIONS FOR INITIAL HOUSING UNIT FOLLOWUP
2010 Census
Side 1 – DEFINITIONS
Housing Unit (HU)
• A separate living quarters – that is, the occupants live separately from all other people in the building and
have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall
• Occupied or vacant at the time of your visit, but intended for occupancy as a separate living quarters
Examples of HUs are:
• a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a trailer, a group of rooms, or a single room (vacant or occupied)
• a seasonal or weekend cottage, condominium, or vacation home (vacant or occupied)
• a HU within, above, or behind a commercial building, church, or school, etc. (vacant or occupied)
• a priest house, rectory, or parsonage (vacant or occupied)
• a HU under construction when doors, windows, and floors are all in place
• a hotel or motel room if it is occupied at the time of your visit by person(s) with no other ‘usual
residence’ (Usual residence is defined as the place where a person lives AND sleeps most of the time. A
vacant hotel or motel room is never a HU.) Hotels where all the rooms or units are used ENTIRELY to house
people experiencing homelessness are NOT housing units
• an RV, camper, houseboat, lean-to (a building sharing a wall with a larger building and having a roof that leans against
that wall), tent, train car, bus or automobile only if it is occupied at the time of your visit by person(s) with
no other usual residence. (Campers or trailers used only for temporary overflow sleeping are NOT HUs.)
• an independent or assisted living unit if the unit is NOT provided with 24-hour skilled nursing care
Situations NOT considered HUs:
• Under construction (doors, windows, or floors NOT in
place)
• Future construction (sign indicating future construction,
a building permit, or stakes in the ground, etc.)
• Unfit for habitation (condemned or open to the
elements) and not occupied at the time of your visit

• Demolished or burned down
• Empty trailer lot/site or trailer/house has been
moved
• Group quarters
• Business
• Unit used for storage of non-household goods

Basic Street Address (BSA)
The BSA is the portion of the address that identifies either a specific single unit housing unit, a specific multiunit
structure, or specific mobile home/trailer. For example, a BSA can be the house number (including any letters and
fractions) and street name portion of an address, such as example: 11 Main Street, 11½ Main Street, or 11A Main
Street. In multiunits where the apartment or unit designation comes after the street name – such as 11 Main Street
Apt. A,11 Main Street Apt. B, 11 Main Street Apt. C – all individual units share the same BSA – 11 Main Street.
Group Quarters (GQ)
A group quarters is a place where people live or stay, in a group living arrangement, that is owned or managed by an
entity or organization providing housing and/or services for the residents. This is not a typical household-type living
arrangement. These services may include custodial or medical care as well as other types of assistance, and
residency is commonly restricted to those receiving these services. People living in a group quarters are usually not
related to each other.
Group quarters include such places as college residence halls, residential treatment centers, skilled nursing facilities,
group homes, military barracks, correctional facilities, and worker’s dormitories.
Examples include:
• College or university student housing, such as residence halls, dormitories, and fraternity or sorority houses
• Correctional facility for adults or juveniles that include: halfway houses, jails, prisons, detention centers, and boot camps
• Group homes (non-correctional) that provide room, board and services, including behavioral, psychological, or
social programs
• Health-care facilities such as in-patient hospice facilities and mental (psychiatric) hospitals or units, skilled
nursing facility, nursing facility, or hospitals
• Military quarters, including barracks and medical treatment facilities
• Orphanages and homes for neglected children or unwed mothers
• Religious group quarters, such as convents, monasteries, and abbeys
• Residential schools for people with disabilities
• Residential treatment centers (non-correctional) that provide services on-site in a highly structured live-in
environment for the treatment of drug/alcohol abuse, mental illness, and emotional behavioral disorders
• Shelters for people experiencing homelessness, including missions, hotels and motels, and temporary group
living arrangements established as a result of natural disasters – Hotels are included only if all rooms or units
are used ENTIRELY to house people experiencing homelessness.
• Worker’s group living quarters or group housing at Job Corps centers (e.g., migratory farm worker quarters, ranch
housing, vocational training facilities, or housing for staff

USCENSUSBUREAU

CONTINUED ON REVERSE SIDE

Attachment I
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Side 2 – LIVING QUARTERS DEFINITIONS
A. Boarding school (except for schools for people with disabilities)
Includes public, private, and Bureau of Indian affairs residential schools that focus on academic programs for
juvenile students in a live-in environment.
B. Correctional facility for adults or juveniles
Prisons, jails, detention centers, and halfway houses operated for correctional purposes, residential training
schools and farms, reception and diagnostic centers, group homes operated by or for correctional authorities, and
boot camps for juvenile delinquents.
C. Fraternity or sorority house for students at a college, university, or seminary
Group housing for students who reside in a fraternity or sorority house at a college, university, or seminary.
D. Group home (non-correctional) or residential treatment center (non-correctional)
Group living arrangements in residential settings that are able to accommodate three or more clients of a service
provider that provides room and board and services, including behavioral, psychological, or social programs. Or,
residential facilities that provide treatment on-site in a highly structured live-in environment for the treatment of
drug/alcohol abuse, mental illness, and emotional/behavioral disorders.
E. Health care facility (e.g., skilled-nursing facility, nursing facility, hospital, hospice)
Skilled nursing facility or nursing home providing long-term 24-hour care with licensed nurses for non-acute
medical care. Also include hospital and freestanding hospice units.
F. Hotel, motel, hostel, single-room occupancy units, inn, resort, lodge, or bed & breakfast
All types of lodging facilities that may include permanent housing for some clients and/or housing for people
experiencing homelessness.
G. Independent living or assisted living facility
Facilities that provide housing for older adults and coordinates personal support services, 24 hour supervision and
assistance to meet needs in a way that promotes maximum dignity and independence for each resident. These
facilities are designed for people who need regular help with the activities of daily living but do not necessarily
require skilled medical care. These facilities may contain a skilled nursing unit or nursing home.
H. Military Quarters (e.g., barrack/dormitory, disciplinary barrack/jail, military treatment facility)
These facilities include military disciplinary or nondisciplinary barracks or dormitories and military treatment
facilities.
I. Recreational Vehicle (RV) park, campground, marina, or racetrack
Include both commercial and private.
J. Religious group living quarters intended to house members living in a group situation (e.g.,
convent, monastery, or abbey)
Facilities owned or operated by religious organizations that are intended to house their members in a group living
situation such as convents, monasteries, or abbeys. (Seminary students living in group quarters are classified as
college student housing not religious group quarters.)
K. Residence hall or dormitory for students that is owned, leased, or managed either by a
college, university, or seminary, or by a private entity or organization
Group housing for students at residential colleges, universities and seminaries.
L. Schools for people with disabilities (e.g., schools for the physically or developmentally
disabled)
Group housing for students at schools for students with disabilities.
M. Soup kitchen, a facility that operates a regularly scheduled mobile food van, or shelter for
people experiencing homelessness
Soup kitchens and mobile food vans provide meals primarily to people experiencing homelessness. Shelters
are places where people experiencing homelessness stay at least overnight.
N. Workers’ group living quarters or group housing at Job Corps centers (e.g., migratory farm
worker quarters, ranch housing, vocational training facilities, or housing for staff)
Migratory farm worker camps, ranch workers housing, vocational training facilities (such as Job Corps), and all
group housing for staff in separate buildings or wings.
O. None of the Above
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D-1028.4(CCM) (3-30-2009)