North Bellmore Veteran Chosen For Affordable Housing

Army Staff Sgt. Jason Broyles of North Bellmore, was chosen as one of six veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to buy deeply discounted, newly constructed homes from Long Island Home Builders Care Development Corp (LIHBCDC).

Broyles, 32, remains on active duty on Long Island and lives with his wife, and two sons in a home rented from his in-laws. 

“Getting this house will change our lives,” he said.  “I had sacrificed all these years for my country, my family, and my children, to provide for them and take care of them, yet I had to borrow a house." 

Broyles served as a motor transport operator in the Army, where he enlisted in 2001 and served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He received three Army Commendation Medals.

By the end of the year, Broyles and five other veterans will move into new three-bedroom homes in a subdivision called “Veterans Way” now under construction in Islandia. They will pay $199,000 for their homes, which are on a cul-de-sac just off Motor Parkway. 

The veterans were chosen among 30 applicants by a panel of Veterans of Foreign War commanders. 

“We are pleased to introduce these heroes who with their families soon will have beautiful homes to call their own,” said Edgar Goodale, chairman of LIHBCDC. “Without these homes, these veterans might have been forced to move off Long Island and away from their families."

The charity, which began its project, "Building New Homes for Returning Veterans" in 2009, previously constructed two low-cost homes for veterans on Long Island in Lake Ronkonkoma and Sound Beach.

Broyles said that he is grateful for his new home. 

"Now, our boys will have room to grow,” he said.