VA offers several housing grants to help veterans with severe service-connected disabilities modify their homes or purchase adapted housing. The Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grant is the largest, providing funds to build or modify a home to accommodate disabilities such as loss of use of both legs, loss of use of a leg combined with other organic disease, blindness combined with loss of use of a leg, or certain severe burn injuries. The Special Housing Adaptation (SHA) grant is a smaller grant for veterans with qualifying conditions that are less severe than those required for SAH but still necessitate home modifications. Qualifying conditions include blindness in both eyes, loss of use of both hands, and certain severe respiratory injuries. The Temporary Residence Adaptation (TRA) grant provides funds for veterans living in a family member home who need modifications. All three grants can be used for modifications such as wheelchair ramps, widened doorways, roll-in showers, lowered countertops, and other accessibility features. The maximum grant amounts are adjusted annually. You can use these grants more than once, up to the lifetime maximum. If you are considering purchasing a new home, you can use the SAH grant as part of the purchase price for an adapted home built to your specifications. Contact your VA regional office to determine which grant you qualify for and to begin the application process.
Note: This article references sections of the VA's M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual. The VA periodically reorganizes the M21-1 and section numbers may have changed since this article was written. For the most current section references, visit the VA's public M21-1 Web Automated Reference Material System (WARMS).