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NEW ORLEANS - The first homes in Brad Pitt’s Make It Right rebuilding project are complete, some three years after hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

Pitt, his partner Angelina Jolie and their family of six children privately toured the hard-hit Lower 9th Ward district earlier this week. The celebrity couple bought a home in New Orleans about a year after Katrina struck and became involved in launching the project to help rebuild the neighbourhood.

“I thank God for Brad Pitt,” Gloria Guy said Thursday when reporters viewed the first six homes Pitt and his family visited Monday and Tuesday.

“I told him how much I appreciate all that he’s done for me and my family,” added Guy, 68, who gave the actor a big hug.

She is moving into one of the first of 150 Make It Right homes planned for the district.

When levees crumbled after Katrina, they unleashed floodwaters that knocked previous homes off their foundations.

The replacement homes cost an average of US$150,000 each and are for residents who still own their property and can pay insurance and taxes. Monthly house payments will be based on applicants’ income and subsidized by funds raised by Pitt’s foundation.

Nearby, 72-year-old resident Gertrude LeBlanc relaxed on a porch swing as dozens of journalists swarmed about.

One of the first to return after Katrina, she said her neighbourhood has been a lonely place for too long.

“I’ve waited a long time for my neighbours to start coming home,” she said, noting less than a third have moved back.

The Make It Right homes boast more contemporary designs than the Creole cottages and shotgun-style homes typical of New Orleans. But planners said they hoped the new homes, with their solar panels and energy-saving appliances, will catch on in New Orleans as the city continues to rebuild.

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On the Net:

Make It Right, http://www.makeitrightnola.org