Hurricane-hit families move into homes funded by Pitt

Families are moving into the first six houses built through Brad Pitt’s Make It Right foundation in Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.

One home was already strewn with green garland, lights, wreaths and red bows but the Hollywood actor admits there is much more to do.

Pitt said: “I’m really happy for the families that are going to be here, but I can’t help but think about the families that aren’t.

“It’s a push-pull for me. The excitement is that it’s being proven, that it’s working. The frustration is that we have a long way to go.”

Make It Right was launched by Pitt a year ago. The programme calls for construction of 150 energy-efficient homes in a section of New Orleans washed away when Katrina broke levees on August 29, 2005.

So far, six homes have been built. Two more are under way, and construction on another 14 begins in early 2009.

Pitt said: “You’re going to see 100 homes here, mark my words. It’s nice to see a few, but I’m anxious to see 100, 150, 1,000.”

Pitt said that by December 2009, the Lower ninth Ward should be one of America’s largest “green” neighbourhoods.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “This place that suffered such injustice and so much death can become one of the primary examples of a high-performance neighbourhood. It really is amazing.”

Inez Converse, 71, isn’t concerned about her area setting any records. She’s just happy to be back in the neighbourhood she lived in for more than 35 years before Katrina. And she said she was glad she had the chance to thank Pitt personally.

“He didn’t have to do this,” she said. “I’m just grateful he is doing it.”

Pitt descibed his new film, The Curious case of Benjamin Button, as “a love letter to New Orleans”.

“There’s a sense of magic here, so it made this fantastic story almost believable,” he said.

Pitt said his fondness for the city led him and partner Angelina Jolie to buy an early-1830s masonry mansion in the French Quarter.

Pitt said the home was recently renovated to accommodate the needs of the couple and their six children. He quashed recent rumours that the couple had sold their home.

He said his motivation to see this project through stems from a lot of things, among them his “love for architecture, a love for technology, a love for fairness and justice.” But it also stems from his love “for all things New Orleans”.

“There’s just something about this place,” he said.