EXPLOITING THE RENT CAP: THE THEORETICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF USING ILLEGAL APPRAISAL SCHEMES TO ENCOURAGE GENTRIFICATION IN NEW ORLEANS

Abstract

This paper examines the theoretical significance of fixing property appraisals as a means of encouraging a change in urban land (gentrification). After a narrative describes the use of bribery and fraud to obtain loans and to enable potential homebuyers to enter the housing market the practice is interpreted as a method of exploiting rent gaps. This method entails the encroachment of an independent, entrepreneurial faction of capital (speculator-developers) upon the turf of another, more established and conservative faction. The role of state actors in the incidents described is seen as having favored the more entrenched and conservative interests in this conflict, and as having mystified the crucial role of speculation in bringing about land-use change. In addition, an important connection between the schemes' perpetrators and a local gay community suggests that the development and subsequent exploitation of rent gaps has a great deal to do with forces on the demand side that have their origins outside of the housing market, not just supply-side forces. These interpretations constitute significant advances in our understanding of the politics of urban land-use changes, particularly gentrification.