Much has changed in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast regions since August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina shattered billions of dollars in property and countless lives. Since then, recovery has been an uphill battle fraught with hobbled government programs, chicanery, and the diaspora of residents.

Now, four years later, hope is beginning to glimmer for some. The troubled Road Home rebuilding program is showing signs of improvement. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has unclogged its bureaucratic arteries to allow much-needed funding to flow to public infrastructure projects. There’s even an impression of an economic rally in New Orleans—at least on paper, according to the Associated Press.

It’s a trend that’s going to continue, according to a Times-Picayune interview with President Barack Obama, who is said he’s still committed to rebuilding the area.

“I think to fail to follow through on that commitment would be a betrayal of who we are as a country,” he was quoted as saying. “I also think that the Gulf region generally, but New Orleans specifically, has a unique place in America's imagination and American life and that's why it is so important now.”

But the long years of mismanagement, abuse, and outright graft and fraud still linger—a perception that also needs to be addressed, the President said.

“I also think the rest of the country is going to be insistent at a time of great fiscal challenge that money in the Gulf region is spent wisely, that local officials are coordinating effectively, that there is transparency and accountability to these processes, that there is a minimum of politics involved in decision making.”

Even with the steady improvements being made, the Gulf Coast—and in particular New Orleans—still has major obstacles to overcome. Largely vacant neighborhoods are still common and a lack of public and affordable housing has kept hundreds from returning to their homes. That situation is languishing and the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity chairwoman Maxine Waters said she’s afraid some planned replacement units won’t get rebuilt at all, according to a separate Times-Picayune article.

At the same time many low-income workers are not finding work, even the manual labor construction jobs that were once plentiful, according to the AP article. And there’s speculation that the burgeoning New Orleans economy will quickly wilt once the stream of stimulus and recovery funding dries up.

Mayor Ray Nagin, though, told CNN the ups and downs were all part of the recovery game and residents and businesses needed to be prepared to be in it for a longer haul.

“I remind them that the average recovery takes 10 to 15 years,” he said. “It's something they really don't want to hear, but it's the reality of the recovery.”