On Nov. 10, a dedication ceremony was held to celebrate the completion of a beautiful new two-story house in Hicksville. However, while new dwellings are an ordinary occurrence on Long Island, this one was unique and special in a way that very few are.
The house at 77 Thorman Ave. was built in memory of Navy Lieutenant and posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Michael P. Murphy, a Long Island native who tragically died in combat while serving in Afghanistan in 2005. However, this house represents more than just the dedicated service of a man to his country; it represents the beginning of a new life full of hope for a brother-in-arms and his family as well.
Jericho resident Larry Sklar has been a staunch veteran’s advocate for 20 years and is the director of Homes for Homecoming Heroes, a not-for-profit corporation he founded two years ago that is dedicated to building homes for military veterans who have put their lives on the line.
“We wanted to relieve the government of some burden and provide affordable housing for veterans who had served in a war within the last 14 years,” he said. “No matter where they served, they were qualified to go into a lottery…there were four candidates, and whoever won got the right to buy this house for the cost of construction. Doing a lottery is the only fair way to do it, because we only have one house. If we had four houses, all four people would have gotten houses.”
Shafquat Wasi, the winner of Homes for Homecoming Heroes’ lottery, is currently under contract for the house. Originally born in Pakistan, Wasi immigrated over to the America with his family in 1992 at the age of 13. Later, upon graduating high school, he made the decision to join the United States Navy to chase a childhood dream.
“I always wanted to be a fighter pilot however, it turned out that my eyesight wasn’t good enough,” he said. “But I had always wanted to be in the military, and my parents were very supportive, especially my father…he said being in the military was good because you get to learn things and travel the world. I couldn’t have made that decision without the support of my family. They’ve always been so good to me.”
Initially signing up for four years of service and later extending it to a total of eight out of sheer love for what he was doing, Wasi saw action in both the Kosovo Conflict and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan during his tenure in the Navy, where he achieved the rank of Second Class Petty Officer before being honorably discharged in 2004.
Currently employed at Northrop Grumman as an Aerospace Engineer, Wasi is married with a 2 year-old daughter and currently lives with his family in Queens. But now that his child is approaching school age, Wasi said that moving to the suburbs of Long Island has become a priority to him. That hope had appeared to be an unattainable goal, he said, once he started pricing houses and had difficulty finding anything even remotely affordable.
“Everything here is so expensive…it was ludicrous,” he said. “But while I was looking, I came across the website for the lottery for veterans and I decided to put my name in. Later, Larry called and told me that I won, and I was stunned. But it didn’t really sink in until construction began and I saw my new home being built, then I was like, ‘wow, this is really happening.’ I didn’t know if I was sleeping or awake.”
In order to construct Wasi’s house, Homes for Homecoming Heroes raised $60,000, with Sklar himself laying out a loan of an additional $60,000 out of his own pocket. The majority of the physical effort and components to construct the dwelling, he said, were donated by various businesses and members of the community.
“This whole house was built by volunteers of the Local 290 Carpenter’s Union,” Sklar said. “A great deal of the material was donated. Riverhead Lumber gave us a tremendous discount, the landscaping, the concrete work, and more were all done for free. Many volunteers and many companies donated their time and materials to help us build this house for such a low price.”
The estimated cost of building the 1,800 square-foot house was $150,000; the final sale price, including the land, brings the amount to approximately $235,000. Wasi is able to purchase the home with a one percent down payment and a 30 year-long loan; plus, there are no closing costs if he and his family stay in the home for 10 years.
This marks the first house completed by Homes for Homecoming Heroes. Sklar noted that he would like to complete many more of them for deserving veterans, but the one speed bump standing in his way of making that happen isn’t for lack of time, money, or manpower, he said.
“So many people are willing to help out our vets, but the only real problem we face is trying to get land,” he said. “The maximum I could sell a veteran a house for is $300,000 to make it affordable. I could build a hundred houses, but someone couldn’t afford it in an area where the taxes are too high.”
But for Wasi, his wife Ambreen, and their daughter Alina, the appreciation for the generosity of Sklar and the other volunteers that made their new residence a reality knows no bounds.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “Larry’s been working hard to get everything done, and the fact that Homes for Homecoming Heroes got everyone together and got this done in such a short amount of time is remarkable. Larry is such a great guy, and I hope that he is able to continue this for other service members who are coming home.”
If you’re interested in contacting Homes for Homecoming Heroes to help out a veteran, you can contact Larry Sklar at 646-641-8460.
