Jennifer Jones poses in front of one of the homes in Brad Pitt's Make It Right rebuilding project in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008. The program calls for 150 homes to be built where levees broke after Hurricane Katrina, letting loose floodwaters that pushed homes off their foundations. This home was holding an open house and Jones was welcoming guests to the party.
Rosemary, left, and Lloyd Griffin stand in front of their home Oct. 2, 2008, in New Orleans. The state-of-the-art, energy-efficient residences were designed by prominent architects and experts brought together by the Make It Right foundation, driven by actor Brad Pitt. The homes stand next to concrete slabs that are all that is left of houses destroyed by a levee break during Hurricane Katrina.
The first homes in Brad Pitt's Make It Right rebuilding project are complete. The state-of-the-art, energy-efficient residences were designed by prominent architects and experts brought together by the Make It Right foundation, driven by Pitt. The homes have solar panels, energy-saving appliances and toilets and faucets designed to conserve water. They also have tankless water heaters.
One of the first six finished Make it Right homes in New Orleans. The homes cost an average $150,000 each and are going up on property owned by local residents who still own their lots and are able to pay the insurance and taxes. Monthly payments are based on the applicants' income, subsidized by funds raised by Pitt's foundation.
While the Make It Right homes boast more contemporary designs than the Creole cottages and shotgun-style homes typical of New Orleans, planners say the hope the new homes with their solar panels and energy-saving appliances will catch on in the city as New Orleans continues to rebuild.
One of the first of a handful of homes in Brad Pitt's Make It Right rebuilding project holds an open house in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008. The Make It Right program calls for 150 homes to be built where levees broke after Hurricane Katrina, letting loose floodwaters that pushed homes off their foundations.
Gloria Guy stands in front of her new home built by Make It Right in New Orleans, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008. The state-of-the-art, energy-efficient residence is one of the first of a handful of completed homes in the rebuilding project driven by actor Brad Pitt.
Gloria Guy, a retired professional baker, gives a tour of the kitchen in her new home during an open house party Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008, in New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward. "I love this kitchen," she said, opening maple cabinet doors and stroking the new refrigerator. "I love to cook, and this kitchen has everything I need."
Gloria Guy gets a hug from her granddaughter, Coral Bourgeois, at an open house for her new home in New Orleans, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008. Guy is receiving the home thanks to the Brad Pitt's "Make It Right " program.
People can be seen sitting on a slab of a home that was demolished by Hurricane Katrina from the window of a new home Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008, in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans.