Back in late June and early July, some local New Orleans media outlets began reporting that Brad Pitt’s Make It Right NOLA had screwed over many of the families they wanted to help. Make It Right tried to make eco-friendly lower-income housing in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, the same area which had been massively devastated by Hurricane Katrina. I remember when Brad started Make It Right, and the complaints at the time – that the homes were taking too long to go up, that the houses were falling apart pretty quickly. And in July, a local paper painted an even dire view of the MIR homes all these years later: they were so shoddily made that they were being left abandoned, and the city of New Orleans was burdened by the cost of condemning the houses and tearing them down. This week, a lawyer told a NOLA media outlet that he plans to sue Brad Pitt and Make It Right for all of this shoddy work:
After Hurricane Katrina, actor Brad Pitt jumped into action to help house families in one of the hardest hit areas: the Lower Ninth Ward. Through his “Make It Right” foundation, the star helped build distinctive homes for displaced survivors. But 13 years after the storm made landfall, some residents say the homes have a lot of issues.
Attorney Ron Austin said he plans to bring a lawsuit on the behalf of his clients against Pitt’s foundation in the coming weeks. Austin said some home have issues with porches, steps and roofs. He claims there are also electrical and plumbing issues and some residents have reported sicknesses and severe headaches.
“Essentially, Make It Right was making a lot of promises to come back and fix the homes that they initially sold these people and have failed to do so,” Austin said. “We have some people who have gotten sick, or we believe to be sick.”
Neal Dupar, who is not part of Austin’s lawsuit, told WWL-TV that he used nearly $200,000 in insurance money after Hurricane Katrina to buy a Make It Right home. Dupar said he was extremely grateful for the discounted rate, but now his house is falling apart and he is not sure what is going to happen next. “I don’t know what the future is going to bring with this house or everybody else’s house, but it’s going downhill now,” Dupar said.
WWL-TV reached out to Make It Right, but they never returned our calls. While the nonprofit has been unresponsive, we were told by several neighbors, including Dupar, that the organization does respond to their clients. Dupar said he called last month and the foundation sent an inspector to looked at the house, but he has not heard anything since.
As if on cue, Brad Pitt went to two of his favorite media outlets, Page Six and The Blast, to respond. “Sources close to Brad Pitt” tell Page Six that Brad “has already been working to fix the problems, and donated millions more to get it done.”
Pitt insiders say he’s already been working for up to a year on fixing the failing buildings. Insiders blame the problems — which we’re told only affect some of the 100 or so buildings — on sloppy construction or poor materials, and say that some of the buildings can be repaired but others will likely have to be torn down.
“Brad’s been working on this for around a year,” we’re told. “Once he knew that there were things that were not up to the standards that he and others would expect, he addressed it — it’s not like he waited for [Austin’s] complaint to be made before doing something about it.”
“It’s not like he waited for [Austin’s] complaint to be made before doing something about it…” Really? Because that’s how it seems – I think the public reports of these problems have just come to the surface now because for years, the MIR homeowners were getting the run-around or radio-silence from MIR. Here’s what the Blast has to say:
Brad Pitt has become personally involved to help resolve the issues with the homes his foundation built in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to try and rectify the problems on the part of the homeowners and any legal issues.
According to our sources, Pitt is encouraging the foundation to respond so the homeowners’ needs. Pitt is not involved in the day-to-day workings of the foundation but has donated millions over the years to support the foundation.
We’re told several repairs have already been made, and the team of people are continuing to address the issues. Pitt hopes all the repairs can be done in a timely fashion.
“Pitt is not involved in the day-to-day workings of the foundation”... I get that, I really do. He’s a busy guy, he has a lot of interests. But he couldn’t take enough credit for MIR when it was launched, remember? And I wonder just how much he’s paid out of pocket to fix these problems.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
All hat, no cattle …
…tall horse, no saddle
He is a Fake humanitarian and father.
Could Brad’s PR team be any LESS subtle?
I had issues with this whole thing from the beginning, but never imagined it would come to this! Lawsuits and the houses being torn down. Wow.
The best thing he could’ve done in the wake of Katrina was to throw his star power and money behind a well established organization, who already knew how to do this sort of thing, quickly and efficiently to get people back in their homes. But he wanted to pretend to be an architect, get the pats on the back, and even got his photo on the cover of an industry magazine.
The quick “he’s not involved!“ And “he’s fixing it already!“ Comments are ridiculous.
My sentiments exactly, Lucy2.
He’s a rich, not particularly intelligent dude who likes nice buildings, so all of a sudden he was presenting himself as scholar of architecture. Anyone can have a nice idea about how to rebuild a ravaged community, but the actual implementation is best left to those who really know what they’re doing. This was nothing but a vanity project loosely veiled in humanitarianism.
And I think that if he had just thrown money at it, gotten a tiny bit of input but otherwise let experts do it, it would have been great. His mistake is in thinking he knows architecture.
The fact that he worships at the altar of Gehry tells you everything you need to know.
I never understood why he didn’t partner with Habitat For Humanity. He could have given all the money to HFH to use for sustainable housing.
Exactly! His ego must have told him he know better and to do his own thing.
They don’t want to partner w Brad Pitt. He’s a poser…..and a joke.
He has no business on a construction site. Period.
That’s it exactly – he could have partnered with them and funded hundreds of homes with the money spent on MIR, and brought a lot of attention to HFH, or any of the other well established groups that do this.
This screams crooked charity. It doesn’t happen by mistake. Sounds like he read Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine and decided to get in on some of that sweet disaster profiteering money.
I have to agree.
I also would like to hope that the contractors who worked on this project are held responsible. Yes, Brad was stupid to not just help another existing organization – but the scarier part to me is that someone who IS a contractor, who I assume hired carpenters, plumbers, electricians, etc probably didn’t get this gig as their first job.
How many other homes have been messed up by these people?
My husband is a residential plumber – he’ll do new construction in homes as well as repair calls. He went to school for a year to be an “A” block plumber apprentice. He had to upgrade to “B” block, then “C” block, and “D” block – all with course work and exams to pass (and it wasn’t cheap). He then had to write a Red Seal exam to graduate to a journeyman level. We’re Canadian – he’s under the impression that the codes are quite a bit different in the US than they are here, and whenever he hears about things like this lawsuit he just shakes his head and is like “America, man” – there seems to be a difference in expectations/hoops to jump through to get things built in the US compared to Canada in all sectors of construction.
I know this is a different situation than the normal purchase of a house – but PLEASE, anyone out there looking to build or buy really do your research. Get really thorough inspections done, find a really serious contractor. Do whatever you can to protect yourself, I guess. I know I’ve had to warn friends who’ve been house hunting to make sure the houses they’re interested in don’t contain kitec plumbing. It was used between 1997 and 2005 when it was recalled. It’s usually orange (hot water) and blue (cold) pipe that would be connected to the hot water heater – it was marketed as a non-corrosive alternative to copper plumbing. It actually IS corrosive, and it also fails – leaks, bursts, flooding – all of it. And it can be incredibly pricey to replace – but cheaper than dealing with the failure. It’s just little things like that that average people would never know to look out for, and there are so many shady people selling and building homes, that you just never know.
I think standards for who can call themselves what type of construction person are different in every state in the US! In my state if you are doing a job that is below a certain dollar amount, you don’t even have to have any type of license or even have insurance! Anyone off the street can call themselves a contractor as long as they’re taking jobs only below that threshold amount and you as a homeowner have no idea if they’re qualified.
Hi Erin, I seem to remember that Mike Holmes was involved in this project. He was on a television special with Brad. That’s why the called it “MakeIt Right” I’d be interested to know if he has any responsibility as well
He’s supposed to be the top notch contractor that you can trust.
Completely agree.
If lawsuits are starting, everyone who touched it will probably be involved.
There’s building up to code. There’s how close you have to be to just below minimum standards and get away with it. And then there’s illegal.
The codes and requirements change every year. Most don’t bother if they can get away with it and pocket the funds.
It’s incredibly common.
I had to google Mike Holmes.
His big thing is coming in to repair shoddy work.
Erinn,
Your husband brings up all the right points. In Mass there are strict requirements for master plumber. But a master plumber can have gaggles of journeymen working for him for next to nothing. If the MP doesn’t take role responsibly there can be issues. Also issues if local inspectors don’t do their jobs well. In my town you need a permit just to switch out a dishwasher-and they’ll catch you if they see a box for dishwasher outside and walk up and ask for the permit.
I believe the rules for electricians in MA are equally as tough. My brother is a master electrician. He spent years studying and working as a journeyman.
https://www.contractor-licensing.com/massachusetts/plumbing-license.html
I’ve heard Texas has the strictest plumbing codes and licensures in the US, believe it or not. Some states don’t require any exams, only hours worked as an apprentice, to become a licensed plumber. Which is crazy because plumbing is extremely intricate and complicated.
May be he’ll make everyone a loan with interest to fix their homes. Sounds a lot like “he’s paid millions in child support” only now it’s he’s “donated millions to the foundation”. Probably in the same vein the way he did his children. Promises made but never kept. He talks the talks but doesn’t walk the walk. Shame on him.
He wanted to make himself look good and avoid paying taxes on all his money. He’s a disaster profiteer as well as an ass.
#DisasterProfiteer I love this !
So he gave them millions? Did he really give them millions as claimed or did he loan it with interest payments????
@Maya Great points Maya!
hahahahaah
LMAO.
Hahaha, same thought exactly. “But I’ve already given millions of moneys” seems to be his auto response for everything.
Kind of reminds me how he was just claiming he gave Angelina millions in child support…
I bet superstar architect Neri Oxman is none too impressed, if she’s even paying attention to what he’s doing.
Maybe she could print out some new homes?
Hahahaha!
Millions were contributed, I bought the t shirts and hat that was supposed to help raise money. What happened to those millions since one of the men featured in the news said he paid MIR $200,000 that he received from insurance. He won’t talk to AP or USA Today but his people will run to page six and blast because they have been doing his dirty deeds of attacking his soon to be ex wife.
If this had been Angelina, the media will be breathlessly reporting it every minute but it is Brad Pitt and they turn a blind eye. This news has been out there in the local media for over a year.
Kaiser I hope you stay on this since Celebitchy seem to be about the only blog with balls to write anything negative about Mr.Pitt. This confirms Lainey’s reporting in 2016 that his people has entered into agreement with most news outlets promising them exclusives if they kill the negative news about his divorce, what a man.
Me too – I am glad CB is covering this because many outlets aren’t.
That’s one of the things that always puzzled me – millions of dollars were raised, yet people were still paying quite a bit for these homes. Why? Where did the money go?
All the major news outlets are reporting on the lawsuit. The funny thing is, when you google MIR foundation news, is the only 2 positive headlines are Page Six and the Blast.
Brat pitt did fundraisers with Ellen D. and Sandra B. in New Orleans. He even met with President Obama about his project.
Yeah…if it were doing fantastically he’d be taking all the credit.
@says Lol………………………………………………………….
That’s terrible, as if the victims of Katrina haven’t endured enough. Hopefully they’ll get their issues resolved asap.
When did he give the millions? in 2007 ?
Millions were donated to Make It Right by regular people. That’s why I could never understand why the people had to pay $200-300K for the homes.The residents who went with other organizations like Habitat for Humanity haven’t had these issues(shoddy work)
Yeah, this is supposed to be affordable housing. If it costs millions to repair? Does not compute.
whats with that pic of him driving? that idiotic look on his face says a lot!
Perhaps its the home facelift kit that is Not working to well on the face.
Yeah, I don’t think he left it on long enough..what a snotty smelly turd he is.
PLease, don’t ever stop using this picture!
I second that
I third that! I often give it the finger as well.
This really is the only picture that matters anymore
He looks like a superannuated Howdy Doody.
“Discounted” homes still cost $200,000 in New Orleans, eh? No wonder so many people were slow to abandon their homes in that area. That’s a lot of money sunk into infrastructure, particularly for low-quality homes intended to *help* people hit by the storm.
It is not a terrible price for new construction in central New Orleans (not the burbs). It is a ridiculous price though considering the issues these homeowners have had so soon after building.
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. I would’ve thought they were offered at a much lower price considering it was supposed to be charity – not that such would justify shoddy workmanship, particularly given how hard coastal areas can be on housing.
I’m just a little surprised at the cost of housing because my city isn’t much smaller (we’re in the 300,000+ range, too), and our prices are still about half that, even with us experiencing a mini housing bubble. I’m assuming the historical value and tourist aspects of NO are what drive it up.
No joke, a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom house in my lower middle class neighborhood in New Orleans is easily $350K. It’s mindboggling.
After the storm, the recession/housing crisis skipped our city because of the recovery dollars buffering the rebuilding process. Unfortunately, more than half of the New Orleans population pre-K lives below the poverty line and could not afford to return. What ended up happening is that a lot of out of state investors saw an opportunity, swooped in, bought and rehabbed a ton of houses, and subsequently turned them into STR’s. The City Council is locked in an ongoing battle with AirBnb and other STR sites, because landlords are just renting out to tourists to make the house note, and that’s driving out longterm renters. People cannot afford to live and work in New Orleans, because the cost of living in a city with such a stagnant economy is far too high. Given how many people work in hospitality and tourism in this city, that’s scary – because a transplant from Jersey isn’t going to be playing that jazz at the Mother-In-Law Lounge or making that gumbo at Neyow’s. We’re pricing out our people, our culture, and our schools.
Worst of all is the infrastructure. Our sewage system is so historically out of date that we flood constantly when it rains, and our potholes are so notorious that Domino’s Pizza is coming to New Orleans to fill 50 of them in a publicity stunt. (For reference, only 42 have been fixed so far in 2018, out of thousands across the city.) We also have a rancid public transit system. The buses are constantly late, and the streetcar is unreliable beyond a certain radius of town. We’re even Betsy DeVos’ wet dream of school “choice.” Every morning, I, like thousands of other parents, have to shlep my kids across town to school, because we aren’t eligible to send our kids to the neighborhood elementary school. School buses are privatized, so most parents in this city are responsible for school transportation across a pretty wide radius – and getting into the “right” so-called public schools is a crapshoot.
I love, love, love this city, but it can be so difficult to live here – and Make It Right might have had good intentions, but they didn’t deliver on those promises. And they’re just the tip of the iceberg of the many, many non-profit organizations who claimed to help after Katrina.
Wow my husband and I were just talking about places we’d like to move to if/when he retires from federal law enforcement (the job is becoming somewhat intolerable for what should be apparent reasons), and NOLA topped our list. I had read about the AirBnB stuff, but otherwise thought the housing seemed reasonable. Would we be crazy to move there? We don’t have kids, so the school stuff doesn’t really matter, but I didn’t realize the infrastructure was still *that* bad.
ETA: Someone below mentioned termites?!
Caitrin – I didn’t know much of this. Thanks for sharing! What would a responsible tourist to your city do?
Algernon, I love it here, despite everything I just said. I genuinely cannot imagine living elsewhere. It’s hard to live here. The crime, the streets, the Sewage & Water Board, the lazy corruption of many local and state officials? It will wear on you. But there are these magical moments where you realize that this place – despite all its warts – is beyond special.
And yeah, we have termite swarms in the spring. And yeah, almost every house has been treated to prevent or remediate termite damage.
I suspect it’d be a lot less stressful to live here if you weren’t juggling a family, though.
@ Caitrin Thank you for the information, at least now I know to pay attention to the street condition and ask about termites if we make it as far as house hunting down there.
The Fort Peck Indian Reservation says he still owes money to them from the bad infrastructure of homes his foundation helped built.
Guys, if you’re ever here, drive by one of those houses. They’re in bad, bad shape.
At the time he started touting MIR and “designing” homes for them, I thought it was bonkers. New Orleans’ climate is horribly rough on even the best-built homes, and the termites are brutal. This project should never have been entrusted to amateurs who knew next to nothing about the local housing market.
Yes yes yes yes yes this.
Yes. Plus, I sincerely doubt his ability to truly “design” anything.
My daughter draws beautiful, detailed pictures of castles, with elaborate floor plans and everything to scale. But I’d be a fool to hand one of her drawings to some shoddy contractor and say “here, build this!”.
There’s way more to architecture than just being able to imagine pretty buildings, and Brad Pitt has no formal training that I know of. It was a mixture of pure arrogance and stupidity that led him to do this
He most definitely has no formal skills in architecture. Word around the Univ. of Missouri when I was in school there was he was 3 credits short of an Advertising degree, but left the spring he was due to graduate to move to LA. My friend had one of his advertising professors a few years later and said the professor reached out to Brad that they would give him the 3 credits as a “seminar” or something in order for him to get his degree (and hopefully come back to campus to receive it). He refused, I guess he just thought he was too cool to come back! Mizzou doesn’t even have an architecture school so not like he could take a class or two to be really familiar with anything.
As I recall, the houses were also of a completely different architectural style than everything else in the area.
They are just little track homes……nothing special. How hard is it to f that up?
The houses I have designed and built are in fantastic shape and it’s been over ten years on a lot of them. No callbacks…..no unhappy families.
He’s a poser and always has been.
To be fair, Tulane’s architecture students designed some affordable houses that aren’t traditional to the aesthetic of the city. They’re dotted around the city, and stick out quite a bit – especially in Central City! But they’re at least functional and affordable.
Do any Canadians know if Mike Holmes is involved in these lawsuits? He was involved with this mess too, right?
I was going to ask the same thing. I know here in Canada when I saw mention of MIW, Holmes name always came up as well, but not now with these problems. Maybe he was a celebrity “consultant” or something.
I am sure he was on Ellen during that whole thing, showing off the houses. And I am sure his show covered it too. He is a shameless self-promoter so I can’t see him not being arm-in-arm with Brad Pitt at the time.
I googled. Mike Holmes only built one home in NOLA, and he hasn’t been involved since 2008. He gave up the name Make It Right back then. Apparently his built home is just fine. Score one for Mike, I guess.
What about the reservation lawsuit. Most of the directors and CEOs and staff dumped make it right for other projects that actually have good leadership. His new fixer is now in charge and making them sign Ndas
I have disliked Brad Bitt since 2006 when he decided it was cool to be an architect…so he, an actor, just declared himself one.
Um…NO. Architects in the US go to school for 5-6 years to get their required degree. Then at least 3 years of work experience to meet licensure work requirements. Then about 1 year taking multiple tests to finally become licensed. People complain about the licensure process, but this is why we have it! So no person with money to burn and an over-inflated ego can go “design” homes that fall apart within a few years.
When architects or self-declared designers like Brad Pitt build a building, it can kill people! If it falls down, leaks and has mold, doesn’t have proper exits in case of a fire, etc….architects can kill people with their mistakes. In other professions where people can get hurt or killed, people seem to respect that. You don’t see famous actors just walking into surgery and declaring themselves doctors, or operating heavy machinery to lift building components into place. But somehow being an architect is just cool, and anybody who’s cool can do it.
Sorry for the rant. I’ve been waiting since 2006 for this thing to fall apart around Brad Pitt.
^^^
Yeah I’m not a fan of celebrities who use their foot in the door position to take on careers as their hobby. What’s next, a celeb dabbling as a surgeon? If he had actually gone to school and decided to learn architecture, then sure that would have been pretty cool. But just because you are interested in architecture doesn’t make you an architect. Someone like say John Travolta took the time to really learn how to be a pilot and seems to have tremendous respect for trained pilots. Brad seems like a pouser to me.
Same here (though I swear they seem to be making it easier to get licensed now, which I don’t think is necessarily a good thing).
I think an interest in architecture is awesome, but you can’t just decide to be one, no matter how famous, wealthy, or good looking you are, or however many well known ones you hang around. But Pitt has probably never been told no. I remember a news story a few years back about him being brought in to “design” a huge hotel. Please.
I was going to say, most of the architects I know have Masters or doctorate level degrees. It’s almost impossible to break into the field meaningfully without the right connections and experience, too. Combining with creative design with functional engineering is no small feat, and failures in construction can easily generate massive repair costs later or even outright injury should the structure collapse.
Funnily enough our firm is trying to hire at least one person right now, hopefully entry level, and can’t find anyone! It all depends location and the economy.
You have every right to feel like this. He is priviledged and basically given and given a pass for everything that he has. The facade that he holds in silly. He can’t be in a relationship with anyone for long periods of time. Im really surprised it lasted this long with Angie because he is a troubled person.
His fake humanitarian efforts are being shown up. He is atheist and doesn’t believe in God. Seems like he needs a lot of God right now. He whines about his sons not liking him, maybe he needs to look at himself.
He only chose to do this kind of work to impress people.
Bobafelty: high five – me too! I’ve detested Brad Pitt since forever, and his “I’m an architect” shtick and that ludicrous lighting project in his French home were the icing on the cake. He’s a poseur and a wanker.
Another mess by Brad Pitt.
Everything he touches turns to sh!t
@says Lol……………………………………………………………………..
I’m sure this is all Angelina’s fault somehow. *rolls eyes*
No only the scumbags fault.
He’ll find a way to blame it all on her.
Bradora will find a way to blame her, no doubt.
First of all Brat pitt needs to learn to take responsibility for his actions and foundation. Some of the public are fickle in giving this scumbag a pass.
“BRADORA”…DEAD 💀
I also vote that this is the ONLY B. Pitt picture that should be used in future posts!!
Also, I’m not surprised these houses were shoddy. He always seems like more show than substance.
If Angelina’s foundation had built homes that were falling apart there would be articles everyday non-stop. Why are there non-stop stories everyday about his foundation?
So this is why most Hollywood people don’t actually help in the US. Other than donating money to other companies that would have to pay out if there was a lawsuit. These Hollywood types start things in Africa and other places where things go badly the press doesn’t care and no one knows that It was a mess and didn’t work. Anyone ever hear about the schools at Madonna and Oprah started? What bugs me is that these type of people get all the good press for the amazing things they do and then a bit later at falls apart but no one cares and they never answer for it. Remember when Angelina went to Libia and how amazing everyone thought that was. And now they have slaves horrible conditions and are coming across at the risk of their own life to get a better life. This kind of stuff just drives me crazy. I think Hollywood should stay out of this kind of stuff. It really never ends well. Just my 2 cents!!
There’s a Variety article about Oprah’s school marking its 10 year anniversary last year. It’s not been without problems, but overall sounds good.
Madonna seems to have had many more problems with hers, but as of January announced they were building 4 more schools.
I’ve always wondered why some celebs who are multi, multi millionaires don’t just pick a charity with a good track record and donate directly. I guess some are in it for the extra attention, Pitt sure seems to have gotten involved as an ego boost, IMO.
I’m tired of Brad Pitt and his crapola. Take ya big $$ and go away.
It’s sad that his team of very well paid PR people are doing such a lousy job.
We see right thru ya, Brad.
It’s the ego boost and publicity. There are a lot of charities here started by sports celebrities and most of them are bullshit, with a lot of money spent on events, admin and “awareness raising” and almost nothing going to actual charity.
As damp and humid as New Orleans is, you’d think they would have built those houses out of concrete as they do in the Caribbean. When María ripped through Puerto Rico, the houses that were destroyed were older houses built of wood. Those concrete houses are built to last for decades.
Reminder the Great Olivia de Havilland 101 years old, is suing the TV show the feud in which Brad Pitt is Executive Producer all the way to the Supreme Court.
Wow bap. Hadn’t heard that. Always liked her.
Is it really charity if they had to pay for the houses? Sounds like due to cheap materials and shoddy construction, the homes were worth less than the owners paid for. Brad’s foundation seems like a scam.
If there was previously complaints, this sounds like something Angelina Jolie would have been very concerned about. Maybe they even fought about it and it was one of the reasons for the divorce.
It was “charity” because the homes were heavily discounted comparable to other homes in the area.
My point is that maybe the homes weren’t as heavily discounted as was led to believe. Perhaps because of cheap material and shoddy construction, the houses were only worth what was paid or less. We don’t know for sure.
Yeah I’ve seen those little houses he built ( not in person, in media coverage) and they in no way cost 200-300 k a piece. Those are little 100 -150 max incl labor and material…..turnkey. That includes people being paid……that’s not materials only and donated labor.
They were clearly scamming people.
FYI, Make it Right receives less than 40% of its support from individual contributions; thus, Charity Navigator says it is unable to rate the organization. “Why isn’t this organization rated?
Charity Navigator rates organizations which receive at least 40% of their funding from direct individual contributions. This organization receives much of its funding from paid services or government grants.” Also, it has around $45 million in assets. Plenty of money to MAKE IT RIGHT, one would think.
I hate that picture!!!! That’s all I really have to say!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!