When Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation promised to rebuild New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina, residents like Robert Green believed Hollywood had finally come to their rescue. Nearly two decades later, as Green watches his $150,000 home slide off its foundation with rotting wood unsuitable for Louisiana’s climate, it’s clear who the real hero in this story is – and it’s not the movie star.
It’s attorney Ron Austin, who has spent years fighting for families abandoned by a celebrity foundation that overpromised and under-delivered.
Austin’s assessment is blunt but accurate: “Well-intentioned, horrible execution. Unfortunately, he overpromised and under-delivered.” The dozens of Make It Right homes plaguing the Lower Ninth Ward suffer from structural damage, mold, electrical problems, and plumbing failures – all stemming from materials wholly inappropriate for the Deep South climate.
When Austin filed the class-action lawsuit in 2018, he wasn’t just taking on Brad Pitt’s reputation – he was battling a foundation that had collected millions in donations while leaving working families to live in deteriorating homes. These weren’t charity recipients; they were homebuyers who invested their life savings, typically around $150,000 each, trusting Pitt’s promise to “make it right.”
The initial $20 million settlement reached in 2022 should have put an end to the nightmare. Instead, the deal collapsed within a year, forcing Austin to continue fighting for his clients. As he puts it, rather than stepping up to honor their obligations, “they try to do everything they can to get out of honoring their obligation.”
Austin represents “hardworking, salt of the earth people who put their faith in Brad Pitt and put their life savings into these homes and have gotten no return.” While Pitt’s legal team remains silent, refusing to comment on the ongoing crisis, Austin continues advocating for families who “bought his dream” and are now “living a nightmare.”
Twenty years after Katrina, the Lower Ninth Ward still needs someone to make it right. That someone isn’t the Hollywood celebrity who built his reputation on their backs – it’s the attorney still fighting in their corner when the cameras have long since stopped rolling.
In a neighborhood where Brad Pitt is now viewed as a villain, Ron Austin stands as the advocate these families desperately need and deserve.
