| Previous research predicting homeownership outcomes focuses largely on economic characteristics of homeownership transactions, including borrower credit risk, home values and mortgage terms. While the inclusion of such variables is crucial, this dissertation suggests that originating lenders as key participants in the homeownership transaction also have the potential to shape outcomes, depending in part on the extent to which they are enabled or constrained by political authority (dimensional publicness).;Building on the theory of dimensional publicness, political authority is measured herein by the originating lender's regulatory structure, localness and lending culture. This dissertation examines the relationship between the publicness of originating lenders participating in the Mortgage Revenue Bond (MRB) program, one of the largest public initiatives for low income homeownership subsidizing more than 100,000 home purchases per year nationwide, and three publicly defined homeownership outcomes: mortgage access (providing mortgages to previously underserved borrowers), mortgage sustainability (reduced mortgage delinquency and foreclosure), and mortgage affordability (lower cost mortgage financing).;To evaluate these relationships, this study employs a unique dataset of borrower characteristics and mortgage loan performance for more than 20,000 MRB borrowers purchasing homes from 2004-2006 in Ohio, Indiana and Florida, nested with lender and community characteristics through multivariate regression techniques. In general, the findings from these analyses find substantial evidence for a relationship between indicators of political authority constraining and enabling originating lenders and public mortgage outcomes, particularly sustainability and affordability. |
