7 Grants for Disabled Veterans - Grants for Medical

Grants for Disabled Veterans

The US Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) was established to fulfill Lincoln’s promise “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.”

The VA does this by serving and honoring men and women discharged from their duties in the US Armed Forces. According to reports by the VA, the VA Disability Compensation Rates witnessed a 3.2% Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA).

To put it in simple words, a veteran with 50% disability and their spouse and child received $1,179 per month.

VA Loans and Grants for Disabled Veterans

Let’s check out the list of grants for disabled veterans received in the US:

1 – HISA Grant for Veterans With or Without A Service-Connected Disability

The Home Improvements and Structural Alterations (HISA) grant helps veterans adapt their homes to their disabilities. This grant is usually offered to disabled veterans even if they did not suffer the disabling injury away from duty.

Veterans can use this grant to make “medically necessary” alterations and improvements to their homes, making them a more accessible environment for people with disabilities.

Some of the ways that a veteran can use the HISA grant include:

Modifying entrances and exits to make them more accessible
Installing “essential lavatory and sanitary facilities” like roll-in shower and walk-in tub
Improving driveways and entrance paths
Adding or improving accessibility to the kitchen, bathroom sinks, etc.
Improving or upgrading mechanical and electrical systems at home to accommodate medical equipment easily

To be eligible for the HISA Grants for Veterans With or Without Service-Connected Disability, you should be a:

Veteran or serviceman with service-related conditions
Veterans with non-service-related conditions must have a disability rating of at least 50%

If you qualify for this grant, you can receive up to $6,800 at a time.

2 – Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) Grant

The VA Specially Adapted Housing grant aims to help veterans live “independently in a barrier-free environment” and is granted to those with qualifying service-connected medical issues.

Recipients of this grant can use the funds to:

Adapt an existing home
Adopt a family member’s house for a veteran to live in
Adapt a house intended for purchase by the veteran or their family member
Buy their own home

Eligibility criteria of disability for this grant include:

Lack of vision in both eyes with 20/20 acuity or less or
Loss of both hands, or
Loss of use of both hands, or
Specific severe burn injuries or
Certain severe respiratory injuries

If approved for the SAH grant, a maximum of $117,014 for FY 2024 can be awarded. To learn the exact eligibility criteria for the SAH grant, please contact your nearest VA office or the VA hotline at 1-800-827-1000.

3 – Temporary Residence Adaptation (TRA) Grant

The VA offers the Temporary Residence Adaption (TRA) grant to disabled veterans and service members living with a family member.

This grant aims to help with the expenses of temporary modification to the home to meet the disability requirements of the disabled veteran.

These grants are additional to the total grant funds available for a single applicant. However, TRA grants are deducted from the lifetime limit of grant usage available to the Veteran or service member.

If approved for the TRA grant, one can utilize a portion of the grant’s maximum value, which is $14,000 for a section 2101(a) SAH grant or $2,000 for a section 2101(b).

To learn more about the eligibility and application process for the TRA grant, it is recommended to access the official US VA website, visit the nearest VA office, or call the VA hotline at 1-800-827-1000.

4 – VA Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization

The Department of Veteran Affairs also offers potential assistance to disabled veterans now business owners, especially if they qualify as economically disadvantaged.

This grant for disabled veterans is offered through the VA’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business (OSDBU) Program. Its goal is to help these businesses secure as many government contracts as possible.

To learn more about this grant for disabled veterans, register at the OSDBU office closest to you. Once they verify your business, it will be added to their directory of small businesses and used to secure government contracts.

5 – VA Small Business Grants

This grant for disabled veterans and non-disabled veterans is aimed at non-profit organizations. This VA grant helps disabled military veterans to get their enterprises up and running. This is not a loan but a grant; hence, the veteran is not expected to pay back the grant amount in any way or form. However, strict compliance is required on your part.

To learn more about this, visit your closest VA office or call the VA hotline at 1-800-827-1000.

6 – Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business Program

This is yet another veteran assistance program offered by VA to disabled veterans. It is quite similar to the VA’s OSDBU program and provides businesses owned by disabled and other veterans with opportunities to secure profitable contracts.

The federal government devotes around 7% of its contracting money to setting aside contracts for businesses owned by disabled veterans. Although these are not direct grants, they help grow the business effectively.

Like OSDBU, you can apply for verification with the program and get added to their directory, which is used while considering the allocation of contracts to small, veteran-owned enterprises.

It is recommended that you visit your closest VA office or their official website to learn the specifics of eligibility criteria and the application process.

7 – VA Medical Bills Assistance Programs

Veterans suffering from service-connected disabilities may be eligible for assistance with medical bills through VA healthcare programs.

You may have to co-pay for healthcare, depending on the specific condition and level of disability, but the VA department bears the remaining bulk of the medical bill.

To be eligible for this grant for disabled veterans, you should fulfill the military service requirements and undergo an income verification process. If you already have a private health insurance policy, you may be exempt from co-paying the bills entirely.

Visit the official US Department of Veteran Affairs website or the nearest VA office close to you for additional information on eligibility and the application process.