A few weeks ago, we heard that a group of people were planning to sue Brad Pitt and Make It Right, the foundation he started after Hurricane Katrina ripped through Louisiana. Make It Right was started by Brad and it was his baby… until he got bored and moved on to other things. The purpose of MIR was to provide affordable and environmentally-friendly home to New Orleans residents. The problem was that many of the homes were shoddily made and became unliveable after a year or two. When the residents tried to contact Brad or anyone at MIR, they got the run-around. Several of the MIR homes have even been demolished by the city because they were environmental hazards. Well, here’s the update: the lawsuit is going forward.

Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation, which built homes for New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their neighborhoods in 2005, has been hit with a lawsuit by two people who claim the homes built for them “were deficiently constructed and built,” according to a complaint obtained by PEOPLE. A rep for Pitt and his foundation did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

The lawsuit was brought by residents Lloyd Francis and Jennifer Decuir, who state in the document that the homeowners “were and are extremely grateful to Mr. Pitt for spearheading the rebuilding of the Lower Ninth Ward because their neighborhood housed more than their homes. It housed their community.” Their lawyer, Ron Austin, told NOLA.com, residents “were forced to file this lawsuit because the Make It Right Foundation built substandard homes that are deteriorating at a rapid pace while the homeowners are stuck with mortgages on properties that have diminished values.”

Some of the problems with the homes include mold from trapped water, poor air ventilation, structural problems, electrical problems, plumbing problems and rotten wood, according to the complaint. Francis and Decuir allege the foundation was aware of issues with the materials used to build homes by 2013 but “never provided homeowners with notice of these design and material defects” despite the residents paying for mortgages on the homes.

In 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Make It Right Foundation allegedly sent engineers to inspect the homes and to write reports on the state of the houses. The residents repeatedly asked for the reports but were told they weren’t ready or were ignored, according to the complaint. While members of the foundation promised residents they would provide the engineering reports, homeowners were allegedly told they needed to sign “a packet” in order to begin repairs. Francis and Decuir claim the packet contained a non-disclosure form and a binding arbitration document that needed resident signatures — which they allege Make It Right tried to gain while they were under duress, according to the complaint.

The two, who state they are representing all the residents who bought homes from the foundation, claim the foundation members “have caused and will continue to cause plaintiffs to suffer significant mental distress” by continuing to ignore the state of their homes.

A source familiar with the situation tells PEOPLE that “Brad has confidence in the Make It Right team; he made a promise to the people of the Lower Ninth and he intends to keep fulfilling it, and to keep contributing money as he has been all this time.” The source adds that “repairs began months ago.”

[From People]

This sounds like an absolute nightmare for all of those residents. Of course they have every right to sue, and I wonder what took them so long to do so – it was clear that MIR was giving them the run-around and no one at MIR was being held accountable. This was Brad’s baby, and he couldn’t take enough credit in MIR’s early days. But at some point, he just got bored or stopped caring, and that was right around the time when the houses all began to fall apart. Now the “source” makes it sound like Brad is just a neutral observer in all of this, some well-meaning donor who had no legal or moral responsibility for the MIR homes. He’ll probably get away with that too, because he’s Brad Pitt.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.