Blog by EPEA: Make it Right and the importance of material health

By: Hein van Tuijl of EPEA Netherlands

This summer I had the opportunity to visit the Make It Right housing project in the Lower Ninth Ward district of New Orleans and jumped at the chance. The project, that was launched in 2007, gained attention in Dutch (online) media over the years primarily because of Brad Pitt’s role as one of two founding fathers of the Make it Right Foundation. (The other one being Cradle to Cradle co-author William McDonough)

The Make it Right Foundation was launched two years after hurricane Katrina hit large parts of Louisiana and Mississippi. After visiting one of the hardest struck parts of New Orleans, the lower ninth ward, it became clear to Pitt how the city had been unsuccessful in restoring the old neighborhood to a livable state. Not only was reconstruction progressing slowly, many people were still displaced or living under miserable circumstances. Facing a population of thousands of displaced people right after disaster struck, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) moved trailers into the area as temporary homes and shelters for people to live in while the city was being rebuilt. Even though the trailers were meant to house people only up to 18 months, the last one left the city not until 2012 – more than six years after the disaster.[1]
What´s worse, it became apparent soon after the first trailers were occupied, that they were unfit to house people. Materials in the shelters emitted amongst others toxic levels of formaldehyde – a known carcinogen. Many families were exposed daily to these toxic gasses, by absence of a real alternative. They often suffered the immediate effects of formaldehyde uptake such as dizziness, nosebleed and respiratory problems.