The first tenants should be able to move into Hearth at Benet Woods homes before summer ends, according to one of the project backers.

"We hope to have at least some residents in there when the school year starts," said Hearth President Jerry Drozynski.

Benet Woods Housing Corp., a Hearth subsidiary, and Trek Development Group, a for-profit company, are partners in the 11-unit affordable-housing project in Ross. The five-acre site on Rodenbaugh Avenue is on the City of Pittsburgh-Ross border.

Six buildings, containing 11 two- and three-bedroom townhouses and a community room, are in various stages of construction. Two of the rental units will be handicapped accessible.

Built with support from state and Allegheny County agencies, the Pittsburgh Foundation and private donors, the units will be rented to individuals and families with annual incomes ranging from $25,000 to $35,000. Tenants will pay an average monthly rent of $700.

Hearth's name is an acronym that stands for Homelessness Ends with Advocacy, Resources, Training and Housing. The nonprofit agency provides temporary shelter and counseling at nearby Benedictine Place for single women with children.

The Rodenbaugh Avenue townhouses represent an expansion of Hearth's social service mission. "The tenants can be elderly people, families, single fathers -- any age, any demographic," Mr. Drozynski said.

Rodenbaugh Avenue is a narrow, hilly street lined with single-family homes. After details of the development became public, 400 neighbors signed petitions and more than 150 attended a township meeting to oppose the proposal. Their complaints ranged from worries about additional storm water to concerns about lower-income renters living in their neighborhood.

The developers brought a federal housing discrimination suit against the township after commissioners turned down the project. Commissioners later agreed to approve the development, if the partners withdrew their lawsuit. In return, Ross agreed to repave a widened Rodenbaugh Avenue.

Work on the steeply sloped site has included the installation of underground storm water detention tanks, new storm sewer lines and a temporary retention pond.

Mr. Drozynski said work crews have sought to respond quickly to neighbors' complaints. "There has been nothing out of the ordinary for a construction project like this," he said.

Some residents are not convinced.

"I've never lived in the middle of a construction project before," said Loretta Jelinek. "It has been horrendous."

She and other residents on Rodenbaugh and adjoining streets complain that some workers continue to park illegally, blocking driveways and sidewalks. Large construction vehicles have blocked Rodenbaugh, sometimes for an hour or more, they said.

Crews showed up and began hammering at 8 a.m. on Easter Sunday morning, Miss Jelinek said, but they left when neighbors threatened to call police.

Joseph Falcona's house is across the street from the Benet Woods construction site. While he described the project as a "nuisance and a neighborhood disturbance," he said crews have responded to his concerns. After he put up a sign asking workers not to block the walkway in front of his house with their vehicles, they stopped parking there, he said.

"But I'm still dead set against it, and I don't like the additional traffic we're going to get here when the new people move in," he said.

Neighbors also have complained to township officials about dirt and gravel on the road, according to Dan Hankins, building code official for Ross. In response, the developer has agreed to reimburse the township for the cost of weekly street-sweeping, he said. "I've haven't heard a major complaint," Mr. Hankins said.

Cars parked too close to intersections make it dangerous for drivers to pull out onto Rodenbaugh, Denise Hamman said. Residents have been advised to report any problems to the job foreman, she said.

"Why should I have to walk all over the construction site to find him?" she asked. "Everyone should just follow traffic and parking laws."

One resident on Montville Street said she believed conditions would improve once construction was complete and the road was widened. "There has been a lot of traffic now, but I don't think the project will be bad for the neighborhood," Nicole Weidner said. "Everybody has to live somewhere."

Hearth at Benet Woods wants to be a good neighbor, Mr. Drozynski said. "There will be some problems with moving large trucks up and down a narrow street," he said. "But we have responded quickly to complaints and telephone calls."