Brad Pitt slammed for his ‘insulting’ houses

Brad Pitt has been slammed for helping to build “insulting” homes in New Orleans for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The actor began a charity to help those forced out after the 2005 storm.

Its aim was to rebuild destroyed properties and replace them with safer ones.

But critics say the design of the new houses is at odds with the neighbourhood.

Manhattan-based architect James Dart, who was born and raised in New Orleans, said that the homes were “alien, [and] sometimes even insulting”. “The biggest problem is that they are not grounded in the history of New Orleans architecture.”

But Mr Dart also had admiration for the Ocean’s Eleven actor’s work.

“He deserves a great deal of credit,” he said, adding that Pitt had “done more for New Orleans” than any government agency.

Pitt, 45, set up a foundation called Make It Right in 2007 after becoming frustrated by the slow pace of rebuilding homes in New Orleans’ flood-devastated Lower Ninth district. The foundation commissioned 13 architecture firms to design affordable, eco-friendly houses and plans to build a total of 150 for “returning Lower Ninth” residents. However, “just 15 of them are occupied”.

A spokesperson for the Make It Right foundation did not return calls.

More than 1,800 people lost their lives and thousands were displaced from their homes when the deadly hurricane tore through New Orleans in August 2005.