Brad Pitt is a lot of things. He’s a sexy movie star, a millionaire, and the ex-husband of another beautiful and talented Hollywood celebrity. Who he isn’t is someone who has followed through on a promise. It’s a promise he made in 2006 to survivors of the Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina—a majority Black community whose lives were ravaged by a flood, but found hope in a housing project Pitt promised to deliver. 

The people living in the houses that Pitt built say their homes are virtually unlivable. Per The Guardian, a class-action lawsuit filed against Pitt and the nonprofit he founded for his housing project, called Make It Right, cites black mold, rotting porches, collapsing stair rails, and issues with plumbing. Other residents report bug infestations along with multiple illnesses. 

Pitt was able to raise millions for the housing project, and he donated $5 million himself with his then-wife, Angelina Jolie. Pitt, along with famed architects Frank Gehry, David Adjaye, and Shigeru Ban helped design the houses, offering all the bells and whistles of modern, sustainable, green materials. In 2010, Pitt bragged that he’d “cracked the code on affordable green homes.” But not long after the fanfare ended, the problems with the houses began to show. 

The Make It Right foundation folded, and residents were left holding the bag for homes that began to fall apart at the seams. In 2018, the class-action lawsuit was filed against Pitt and the nonprofit. 

“This was, in most cases, a one-shot deal at home ownership for these people,” said Ron Austin, an attorney representing the residents. He told The Guardian some residents had spent their life savings on their Make It Right home. “Without some financial relief, these people will literally be left holding nothing.”

The lawsuit is ongoing, with parties denying responsibility and finger-pointing in every direction. But as usual, the people who are in the  most dire need have been left to fend for themselves. The Road Home program is yet another example. 

The Road Home program was run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Louisiana Recovery Authority. According to its defunct website, in 2018 it “assisted more than 130,000 Louisiana citizens” and “disbursed more than $9 billion to the residents of Louisiana.” But the reality is the program essentially only helped white New Orleanians versus the Black New Orleanians who made up 67% of the population at the time of the storm. 

The Road Home only distributed money based on the pre-Katrina value of a home or cost of repairs, so in the case of folks living in New Orleans’ Black neighborhoods, that meant significantly less money. 

Homes in New Orleans’ Black neighborhoods generally have lower appraisal values compared to the homes in white neighborhoods, thanks to decades of discrimination caused and reinforced by segregation in the Louisiana housing market.

Planners Network estimates that in 2008, around 35,000 Black New Orleanians received unequal grants under The Road Home formula—with shortfalls of over $75,000. White New Orleanians faced shortfalls of about $44,000. 

In 2008, five homeowners filed a class-action lawsuit against HUD and the Louisiana Recovery Authority claiming that The Road Home had discriminated in its awards. In 2011, the government settled, paying up to $62 million to 1,300 Louisiana homeowners.

Dating back to the 17th century and deep into the 19th century, Black Americans were unable to purchase, sell, own, or lease property—hell, for most of that time, Black Americans were property. 

Even post-slavery, most Black folks couldn’t purchase property. Even after World War II, with the creation of the Veterans Administration (VA) and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) home loan programs, Black Americans were excluded from getting a home loan. 

New Orleans, like so many American cities, is a truly a tale of two cities. The failure to follow though on promises and to rebuild Black neighborhoods, like the Lower Ninth Ward, is ubiquitous.