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Specially Adapted Housing changes help seriously

disabled Veterans

News Sections: Benefits, Top Stories

Published On: February 18th, 2021 | 484 words | 1.6 min read

Did you know that there’s more to the VA home loan than just the loan guaranty? In fact, the program has additional
help for Veterans with serious, service-connected disabilities. One of those programs is the Specially Adapted Housing
(SAH) program.

SAH grants assistance to the most seriously disabled service members and Veterans to pay for life-changing and
independence-enhancing modifications and adaptations to their homes and residences. New changes to the laws that
govern the administration of the SAH program offer an even greater opportunity for VA to fund these adaptations.

SAH grants are allocated by VA to very seriously disabled Veterans or service members who meet narrow eligibility
criteria for funding to adapt their homes to accommodate their special needs.

There are three adapted housing grant types: Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grant, the Special Housing Adaptation
(SHA) grant, and Temporary Residence Adaptation (TRA). Each grant type has different criteria for determining
eligibility for the grant award. Eligibility criteria for these grants can be found here.

In August 2020, Public Law 116-154, the “Ryan Kules and Paul Benne Specially Adaptive Housing Improvement Act of
2019” was enacted. This law makes significant changes to the SAH grant program and enhances access to important
funding for Veterans with serious and very specific service-connected disabilities.

Changes to the SAH program under PL 116-154 include:

Veterans rated with a service-connected blindness disability – without a loss, or loss of use of a lower extremity
– are now eligible for the SAH grant. Statute now reflects that all SAH-qualifying disabilities must be permanent.
These changes became effective August 8, 2020.
The lifetime grant usage is no longer limited to three uses for each individual. Eligible service members and
Veterans are now able to use the grant a total of six times.