Many New Orleanians are feeling less patriotic these days after the experience of navigating government red tape to access any resources for rebuilding after the storm.
Five years after Katrina, some families still live in trailers with the hope of rehabilitating their homes one day.
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Originally built in 1941 and expanded in 1955, much of the Magnolia Projects sat vacant and in disrepair before Hurricane Katrina dealt a final blow.
The Magnolia, like all public housing in New Orleans, was shut down after the storm, feeding accusations that officials didn't want the poor to return.
The Magnolia has been transformed into a 460-unit mixed-income development billed as Harmony Oaks.
Harmony Oaks boasts a lower density, ample green space and design with traditional New Orleans architectural elements.
Developers face a tough challenge building in neighborhoods surrounded by blight.
Throughout the city, new modern designs are popping up — often clashing with the appeal of traditional New Orleans architecture.
A modern home in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, focus of the HBO TV show by the same name.
A rebuilt levee wall stands prominently over a field of green that once was filled with houses in the Lower Ninth Ward.
The homeless population in New Orleans has more than doubled since Hurricane Katrina.
Many of the homeless have sought refuge in some of the 50,000 vacant and blighted properties throughout the city.
After the storm, the St. Bernard housing project sat vacant while redevelopment plans were debated.
The barrack-style public housing complex has been replaced with a vibrant mixed-income community.
Newly built apartment buildings are sprouting up in the shadows of the former Columbia Parc public housing development.
The new mixed-income development captures many traditional New Orleans architectural elements and colors.
With many of the public parks in disrepair, children innovate by playing in the streets or on neighborhood sidewalks.
In parts of the Lower Ninth Ward, steps were all that remained after the water receded.
Brad Pitt and his Make it Right Foundation are building energy-efficient state-of-the-art homes in the shadows of the levee that breached and caused endless devastation.
Five years after the storm, a house in the Pontchartrain Park neighborhood slowly deteriorates.
The uncertain fate of Charity Hospital remains a hot topic in a city that is suffering from a depleted medical system.
New Orleans is still grappling with an extremely high violent-crime rate.
The city's underfunded Recreation Department is struggling to repair public parks and playgrounds and to provide programs for youth.
Central City resident James Andrews remains optimistic that both his neighborhood and New Orleans will recover fully from the effects of the storm.
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