Still hard at work! Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation has not given up on New Orleans despite a recent suit claiming it sold “defectively and improperly constructed homes” to Lower Ninth Ward residents.
Construction workers were recently spotted tearing down and rebuilding one property in the area, while others remain on a waiting list.
“Is it right that people are paying for houses that are falling apart? Of course not. I get where people are coming from. [But] I think most of the people [who are not suing] are a little more understanding,” Selina Pritchett, whose mother, Sandy, owns a home in the area, tells Us Weekly. “I want [Pitt] to know that it’s not all residents that has the complaints towards him.”
Pritchett continues, “We do appreciate him using his status, using his name, drawing attention to the area, being so passionate about helping people come back. He did not have to do it, and one thing I hope it doesn’t do is deter anybody else from helping a community that’s been devastated.”
Another local, Nathan Washington, tells Us, “[Pitt] did a good job. He had his heart in the right place. His intentions were good.”
NBC News reported in September that two residents of NOLA’s Lower Ninth Ward sued the 54-year-old actor’s foundation, which he founded after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for unfair trade practices, breach of contract and fraud. In response to the accusations of defective work, the nonprofit sued its executive architect later that month.
Pitt said in a statement to NBC News at the time, “I made a promise to the folks of the Lower Ninth to help them rebuild — it is a promise I intend to keep.”
