Make It Right
In December 2006 Brad Pitt convened a group of experts in New Orleans to brainstorm building green affordable housing on a large scale to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. Having spent time with community leaders and displaced residents determined to return home, Pitt realised that an opportunity existed to build houses that were not only stronger and healthier, but that had less impact on the environment.
Previously, Pitt sponsored an architecture competition organized by Global Green with the goal of generating ideas about how to rebuild sustainably. Several of those designs are currently under construction in the Lower 9th Ward and the project inspired him to expand his efforts.
Green Affordable Housing
After discussing the hurdles associated with rebuilding in a devastated area, the group determined that a large-scale redevelopment project focused on green affordable housing and incorporating innovative design was indeed possible. The group settled on the goal of constructing 150 homes (one of the larger rebuilding projects in the city), with an emphasis on developing an affordable system that could be replicated.
To demonstrate replicability, Pitt determined to locate the project in the Lower 9th Ward, one of the most devastated areas of New Orleans, proving that safe homes could and should be rebuilt. The Lower Ninth Ward, a working-class, predominantly African-American neighborhood on the banks of the Mississippi River was completely submerged by the hurricane.
Pitt hoped that this project would be a catalyst for recovery and redevelopment throughout the Lower 9th Ward and across the city of New Orleans. Having listened to one former resident’s plea to help “make this right,” Pitt was inspired to name the project “Make It Right” (MIR). Pitt pledged $5 million in matching donations toward the project and requested donations from international diplomats during a conference at the Clinton Global Initiative in September 2007. On 16 March 2008, former President Bill Clinton picked up a shovel alongside Pitt and they broke ground on the project.
UPDATE
To date only 109 of the 150 houses have been completed, and of those 109, many appear to be falling apart. On 7 September 2018, two Lower Ninth Ward residents filed suit against the Make It Right Foundation alleging that the non profit built and sold sub standard houses with “defective” materials that caused structural issues, electrical and plumbing malfunctions, and insufficient ventilation.
Further, the lawsuit alleged that the Foundation was aware of problems as early as 2013 and that Make It Right representatives arranged inspections of the houses in 2016, 2017, and 2018 but did not share the results with residents; in fact, according to the plaintiffs, reps allegedly asked some residents to sign NDA’s before they would agree to make repairs.
Lawsuit Filing Against John C. Williams
On 18 September 2018, Make It Right reportedly filed a lawsuit against John C. Williams, the New Orleans architect they hired to fulfill the plans and blueprints of their star designers. In a statement to People, Make It Right said it “has filed a lawsuit against its former executive architect, John Williams and his firm for monetary damages to remediate and repair affected homes in the Lower [Ninth] Ward of New Orleans arising from his engagement with the Foundation.”
Naivety
For his part, Pitt acknowledged that he and the foundation had no idea how difficult their project would be. “We went into it incredibly naive,” he told the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper in August 2015, on the occasion of the ten-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. “Just thinking we can build homes—how hard is that? And not understanding forgivable loan structures and family financial counseling and getting the rights to lots and HUD grants and so on and so forth.”
Success
Neal Morris, principal at Redmellon Restoration and Development, a socially minded development firm in New Orleans and a veteran of all the complexities Pitt was likely unaware of
Their approach was to find a builder-friendly house, so they could keep the costs down so that their resources, the most possible resources, were going to the families. Structures were simpler, buyers were required to undergo homeownership training, and mortgages would be forgiven after five years via a homeownership swap agreement. Another successful element was, the KISS approach: Keep it Simple.”
