Brad Pitt has actively worked with organizations and charities to give back to the community. However, his 2007 project was one of the biggest relief projects he funded in his career. The actor co-founded the Make It Right Foundation at the time alongside designer William McDonough and architectural firm GRAFT. The main aim behind the ambitious project was to rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans following the catastrophic destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
In 2007, Brad Pitt started his own housing foundation to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina
The foundation Pitt started originally pledged to build 150 affordable, environmentally friendly, and hurricane-resistant homes. The mission combined high-concept architecture with sustainable urban design to ensure people had sturdy and high-quality homes. For the project, as per the foundation’s official page, Pitt commissioned 21 world-renowned architects and firms, including Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne (Morphosis), David Adjaye, and Shigeru Ban, to name a few, to design modern single- and multi-family homes.
Brad Pitt started the initiative to help victims of Hurricane Katrina and to help build the community back up in New Orleans. (Instagram)
The foundation sold homes to returning Lower Ninth Ward residents at cost, valued around USD 150,000, using forgivable loans, grants, and direct subsidies raised by the foundation to bridge financial gaps for low-income buyers. While the ambitious project started with good intentions, it faced severe technical, material, and structural failures that led to a public collapse and resulted in lawsuits.One major issue with the houses Pitt’s organization built was the materials. They used an experimental, chemical-free glass-infused wood, advertised as rot-proof, to build most of the house components. However, within a few years, the wood rotted rapidly, causing decks and structural components to decay. Other than that, many of the homes had flat roofs or unconventional angles that allowed water to pool and collect, which in turn caused leaks, severe black mold, water damage, and electrical hazards, making the places hazardous to live in.A few years later, the foundation ceased operations, and most of the homes either required major repairs or were simply left empty.
The class action lawsuit that followed all of this
The Guardian reported that in 2018, the homeowners filed a class-action lawsuit against Brad Pitt and the foundation for defective construction, fraud, and breach of contract. In August 2022, the company agreed to a USD 20.5 million settlement with all affected homeowners, funded primarily through an agreement with the environmental group Global Green. The funds were allocated to reimburse residents for home repairs or buy back uninhabitable properties.DISCLAIMER: Figures presented in this article are derived from various public sources and are considered approximate unless explicitly noted. We may include direct input from celebrities or their teams when available. We are open to feedback at toientertainment@timesinternet.in.