As the king’s commissioner, it was only fitting that Nehemiah live in a decent house. Perhaps there is ancestral land to which he could lay claim, with a structure that needed repair, but we do not know. What is obvious is that he needs material for a house.
8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.