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Detroit's Penrose Village Welcomes New Residents

DETROIT (WWJ) - A new community is taking shape not far from Detroit's recently opened Meijer store.

Residents on Thursday will be moving into their new homes in the $40 million Penrose Village, located east of Woodward avenue and just north of 7 Mile Road.

Dwight Thomas, construction coordinator, said some residents moved into their homes earlier this month and they couldn't be happier.

"We moved in seven residents on Lance on August first who are very excited to be here, and today we're moving in another seven residents out of the 36 that we built. This is phase two, these are all people with special needs and also the homeless," he said.

The village is composed of newly built single-family rental homes that have three and four bedrooms. The project also includes two gardens, an art house and a farm-house.

Thomas said the need for affordable housing for those with special needs in Detroit is overwhelming.

"We actually had 875 applications for this particular project, so we won't have any problem filling them up," he said. "But, it's a very selective process to make sure that the people are in compliance and that they have special needs and that they actually qualify for this."

Thomas said construction is currently underway to build more homes in the village.

The development is part of the Arab American and Chaldean Council's "Seven Mile Project."

Click here to see a photo gallery of the village.

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