This variable was first introduced in 1984 as part of the Supplement on Aging. From 1993 to 1996, HOMOWNFREE is part of the Family Resources supplement that provides information on individuals' health benefits, amount of coverage and income received from employment, welfare benefits, public assistance, and savings.

Questions in the Family Resources supplement are different from those in the core survey in terms of the content and the treatment of missing data. Questions in the Family Resources were normally asked of the month prior to the interview while the core survey asked of the last calendar year. Missing data in the Family Resources supplement were imputed by NHIS. Users can refer to the imputation flag variable HOMPDIMFL to identify persons with imputed data.