Lawsuit was brought by owners after Pitt’s supposedly sustainable, flood-proof homes were plagued by mold, leaks and rot
Brad Pitt's Make it Right homes in New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward.It sounded like a dream come true, complete with a handsome prince riding to the rescue: the construction of 109 new, sustainable, flood-proof and affordable homes in New Orleans’s Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Lower Ninth Ward, all thanks to movie star Brad Pitt.
The settlement has led to “tears of joy” among the long-suffering flood victims, Ron Austin, the lead attorney in the class action lawsuit, told the Guardian. “You’re talking about a group of people who didn’t have an option to move and buy or rent a second home. This was their life savings and they were living in something that was deteriorating quickly around them. So they’re relieved and grateful.
Pitt announced the Make It Right project to great fanfare in 2006. The plan was to hire a cast of famous architects to build flashy, environmentally-sustainable homes at the epicenter of Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic flooding, and sell them to flood victims below cost – starting at $150,000. The Hollywood icon boasted that the houses were “a proof-of-concept for low-income green building nationally, maybe even worldwide”.
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