Brad Pitt plans 150 homes for Orleans

A good cause! Actor Brad Pitt has said he expects 150 homes to be built in an area of New Orleans destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, as part of a project he is backing. The 43-year-old Hollywood star, who has pledged $5m (£2.4m) of his own money to the initiative, made an appeal for further donations to the fund.

Each house in the city's Lower Ninth Ward, which was deluged by flooding in 2005, will be built on stilts.

"This is really an adopt-a-house campaign," said Pitt, who hoped that wealthy individuals, church groups and businesses would make pledges of $150,000 (£72,750), the sum needed to give a family a new home.

The buildings, which have been designed by a team of 13 architects, have been planned to environmentally-friendly specifications.


Brad Pit and partner Angelina Jolie own a mansion in New Orleans' French Quarter. Jolie and the couple's son Maddox accompanied Pitt as he campaigned for further funds on The Today Show on US network NBC. Link