The red and white gates at Burns Heights, an expansive public housing complex of 14 rows of attached houses atop a hillside in Duquesne, don't close anymore. In fact, they haven't been in use for a couple of years.

Like many public housing complexes, Burns Heights initially was built for military housing in 1941, when this city thrived on the back of a vibrant steel industry. In many ways, it now reflects what happened to the neighborhoods around it and to the city of Duquesne over the years.

Much like many hard-hit neighborhoods in Duquesne, which dwindled in population from about 20,000 people when Burns Heights was built to about 7,000 these days, the public housing complex now sits mostly empty and boarded-up, with trash cans strewn around some of its walkways.

The complex, which has 174 units, was completely renovated in 1995 by the Allegheny County Housing Authority. But much of that renovation appears to have worn off years ago, and the complex now casts a somewhat desolate shadow over the other hillside neighborhoods.

Now, with the help of $60 million in federal stimulus money, the county Housing Authority is ready to begin demolition of Burns Heights and other abandoned housing, followed by construction of more than 150 single-family houses throughout the city.

In addition to rebuilding neighborhoods, authority officials expect the project will inject hope into a city that hasn't had much in recent years.

"We think we can make a big impact in Duquesne, especially now that the federal government has put up $1 billion in [Housing and Urban Development] funding for big infrastructure projects like what we're trying to do," said Frank Aggazio, executive director of the county housing authority.

What they're trying to do, Mr. Aggazio said, starts with demolishing Burns Heights, seated at the intersection of Catherine and High streets and bounded by Cherry and Thorn alleys, a wooded hillside and Route 837.

Also targeted for demolition are the cluster of houses along Priscilla Avenue between Second and Fifth avenues and a collection of mostly abandoned brick and wood houses along Fern Alley off Fifth Avenue.

In that neighborhood, which is closer to the city center than to Burns Heights, the housing authority plans to build 53 new detached two- and three-bedroom houses with private driveways, back yards and garages.

The new housing in this section of town will complement the 122-unit development to be built where Burns Heights now stands.

"It's the same thing we did in rundown neighborhoods in Stowe, Tarentum and McKees Rocks, among other places," Mr. Aggazio said. "The goal is to significantly improve the housing stock of an area so that people can start coming back into what was once a blighted community."

For Duquesne Mayor Phil Krivacek, the state of affairs at Burns Heights and the blighted housing in the Priscilla and Fifth Avenue corridors together are a gloomy and "constant reminder of all the things that went wrong here when we lost the [steel] mill that supported the livelihood of this town."

Nonetheless, JoAnne Scott, a longtime Burns Heights resident who has fond memories of the complex where she raised three children, said she will be sad to see it torn down.

"I hate leaving this place," she said on a recent morning while standing in front of the one-bedroom unit in Block D. Ms. Scott, who was one of six families still left in the complex, relocated Friday to Hawkins Village, a public housing complex in Rankin.

All residents of Burns Heights were given vouchers that could be used in any public housing in the country. But a few families, like Christine Matsko's, are still living in the mostly abandoned complex as they wait for inspected units in the county's housing authority system to open up.

"My family has lived here for 44 years," Ms. Matsko said, adding that she, too, was saddened to move out of the community she has called home for much of her life. Ms. Matsko does not know where she may settle.

The housing authority has contracted with Pittsburgh developer Ralph Falbo to build the new houses and duplexes. His construction company has already applied for tax credits of $11.8 million from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency for the first phase of the project -- the 53 houses -- which is slated for completion in early 2011. This phase is expected to cost about $16 million with the infusion of funds from other partners, including the housing authority and the county Department of Economic Development.

Vanessa Murphy, a project manager for Mr. Falbo, said those new rental units will be reserved and rented to households that earn 60 percent of the median income for Duquesne, and 18 of the 53 houses will be public housing units to be filled by tenants on the housing authority's voucher list.

The developer and the housing authority also are applying for a $20 million HOPE VI grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for construction on the former Burns Heights site, Ms. Murphy said.

HUD expects to issue the notice of availability -- basically the grant application -- for the $1 billion in competitive stimulus funding for such projects in September, said Donna White, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The Obama administration's plans to expand HOPE VI funding, Mr. Aggazio said, "is the best thing to happen to public housing agencies in a long time."

An initiative that mixes income levels and some home ownership in scattered-site housing, HOPE VI funding was drastically cut back during the Bush administration. That limited the authority's plans for major rebuilding and improvement projects in some communities, Mr. Aggazio said.

"We're going to call it Orchard Park," Ms. Murphy said of the new housing division, which will see expanded house sizes, new roadways and sidewalks, street lighting, a community center and private parking pads.

"What we're really trying to do is to restore the sense of neighborhood," Ms. Murphy said, adding that less than half of the 122 units will be public housing. Others will be income qualified -- rented to households earning 60 percent of median income, and 10 units will be sold on the open market.

Demolition of Burns Heights is scheduled for this summer, but construction likely will not start until late 2010 because of HUD funding schedules, Mr. Aggazio said.

The housing authority and Mr. Falbo are in the process of acquiring land titles to the abandoned properties and vacant land along Priscilla Avenue. Clearing of those parcels will start this summer, too.

Seated in his second-floor office at City Hall on a recent Friday afternoon, Mr. Krivacek, 74, who has been Duquesne's mayor for the last 10 years, said the housing authority's project is "just what we've been waiting for."

The city was recently listed as one of the 18 most needy communities in Allegheny County. It will share some $5.5 million in federal stimulus funds for neighborhood stabilization with other communities in the county.

The funding, Mr. Krivacek said, coupled with the housing authority's project, will see the city through a much-needed demolition of abandoned properties.

"When the mills shut down, a lot of people left this town, and many of them just walked away from their houses," he said. Now, he added, the city plans to demolish as many as 60 abandoned houses with the neighborhood stabilization funds.

The housing project follows the ongoing success of the Duquesne RIDC Park, which is operating at full capacity at the former site of U.S. Steel's Duquesne Works. Combined with renovation of the city's clock tower and street repaving between First and Fourth streets, Mr. Krivacek said, the housing project is another sign "we are slowly turning around."