Symposium on Housing Tenure and Financial Security

Held in March 2019 on the campus of Harvard University, the symposium invited the submission of papers that explored the relationship between homeownership and wealth, barriers to mortgage credit availability and homeownership sustainability, alternative tenure and financing options, and the homeownership experiences of older adults and other subpopulations of specific interest.1 The symposium section in this issue includes a selection of the papers first presented and discussed at that event; each paper describes homeowners' experiences and the operation of mortgage and housing markets in recent years.2 In the first article, "Mortgage Journeys: A Video Ethnography of the Homebuying and Mortgage Process," authors Jefferson and Thomas discuss findings from their ethnographic study that followed low- and moderate-income prospective first-time homebuyers through the home purchase process. Among other findings, Spitzer and Lambie-Hanson concluded that proximity to a military site is a strong, positive predictor of county-level VA mortgage lending, even after controlling for a number of related factors. Because VA lending provides veterans with an important tool in the path to homeownership, this analysis offers insight into the pathways through which VA lending broadens access to homeownership for eligible households. Using data on a subset of MHP borrowers, the authors simulated alternative FHA mortgage outcomes for the sample, comparing total monthly mortgage payments, overall equity accumulation, and net financial outcomes from purchase to sale for MHP and FHA options. On these and other topics, further research is necessary to understand the extent to which the experiences of the past decade have changed anything fundamental in the attitudes of U.S. households toward homeownership, their openness to alternative tenure options, and the role that tenure decisions will play in the financial security of American households in coming decades. 1 The conference agenda, working papers, and videos of the symposium panels are available on the JCHS website at https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/research/symposia-spedal-projects/symposium-housing-tenure-and-fimndalsecurity-2019.