Then and Now: New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina

PEOPLE.com revisits the city – and its determined residents – four years after the devastating storm

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HOPE LIVES

Now, Lastie is living in his father's home and restoring one room at a time. He hopes to have it ready soon so his fiancée Lisa Daniels, 41, and her two daughters, Sierra, 14, and Jade, 13, (not pictured) can move in. "You can have New Orleans back, but you've got to want it bad," he says. "New Orleans is my family. I have happiness here. I have hope."