Today in a Hollywood minute Amanda discusses a celebrity do-gooder fail 17 years in the making. Hurricane Katrina victims are still victims of Brad Pitt’s “sustainable home debacle” seventeen years later. Back in 2006 Brad Pitt and his Make It Right Foundation spent around $27 million to build 109 eco-friendly homes. In 2018, NBC News reported that a majority of the Make It Right homes are vacant due to persistent reports of mold, collapsing structures, electrical fires, and gas leaks. Many say the homes were built with cheap materials and used designs that didn’t take the climate into account. Brad Pitt told NBC that he intended to make it right though the Make It Right Foundation website hasn’t been updated since 2015 and their office in New Orleans has dwindled to a handful of staff members. In 2022 Brad Pitt had been forced to settle for $20.5 after the homes he built for Katrina victims began to fall apart. It is nice to see those who can help, help out those in need. However, when you push your climate agenda onto the rest of the world this is what happens.
Brad Pitt being interviewed during the building process on the New Orleans homes. Pictured in front of one of the homes. Photo/Flickr/Andrea Garland
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I give Brad credit for trying. It’s more than most Hollywood elites have done. Like most failures, there are lessons to be learned and I hope he tries again, maybe shoot for 50% sustainable? It’s how we progress.
You wouldn’t hire a carpenter to act in a movie so why would anyone think an actor could build a house? The road to failure is lined with good intentions and over estimated abilities.
I’m not a Hollywood or do-gooder fan, but I do think that Pitt intended well. Are there practical, design and construction lessons to be learned here that could be put to good use? Maybe he should dwell on that. But, he will have to stop dealing with progressive Architects.