Brad Pitt to build elevated homes in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — Brad Pitt expects the foundations to be built for at least 150 eco-friendly homes in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward by the end of next summer.

"A hundred and fifty homes is our goal," Pitt said Monday near the spot where the Industrial Canal floodwall broke during Katrina and sent a wall of water through the neighborhood.

"But there is no reason why we can't do 1,000 homes, why we can't do 10,000 homes, why we can't do 100,000 homes," he said against an art installation of bright pink rectangles and triangles meant to draw attention to the cause.

"I'm hoping we can expand here and expand over into the rest of New Orleans," the 43-year-old actor said as he walked through the devastated neighborhood.

Pitt has been a vocal critic of faltering government efforts to rebuild New Orleans and has worked with environmental group Global Green USA on a separate project to build five single-family homes and an 18-unit apartment complex and community center in the city.

Earlier this year, he and Angelina Jolie purchased a mansion in the city's French Quarter for $3.5 million.

Pitt has pledged to match up to $5 million in donations for his Make It Right project, which he announced at a conference in New York in September.

An international team of 13 architectural firms has submitted designs for the single-family homes, the first of which could be finished by May 2008. The new homes will be elevated to withstand future floods.

Calling himself "not much of a salesman," Pitt was campaigning for more donations for the cause.

"I mean, this is really an adopt-a-house campaign," he said. "I'm asking for foundations, for high-net-worth individuals, for church groups, for corporations to come in and adopt a house — basically, $150,000 will get a family back in their home."