VA Special Adaptive Housing Grants

Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD), chairwoman of the House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee on economic opportunity, recently conducted a hearing to review the Department of Veterans Affairs' special adapted housing (SAH) grants programs. Veterans or service members who have specific service-connected disabilities may be entitled to a VA grant for the purpose of constructing an adapted home or modifying an existing home to meet their adaptive needs. The goal of these programs is to provide a barrier-free living environment that affords the veterans or service members a level of independent living that they may not normally enjoy. The hearing specifically addressed the flexibility and sufficiency of the existing grants to address the current needs of veterans. "According to the Defense Manpower Data Center at the Department of Defense, approximately 35,000 service members have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Sandlin. "Today, we will receive timely testimony that foreshadows the increased need for adaptive housing grants. In caring for our injured men and women in uniform, we must continue to address their needs so they may live as independently as possible after their honorable military service."  Three types of grants are administered by VA to assist severely disabled veterans in their adaptive housing needs.

·        Specially Adapted Housing Grant generally used to create a wheelchair-accessible home.

·        Special Home Adaptations Grant generally used to assist veterans with mobility throughout their homes.

·        Temporary Residence Adaptation Grant available to eligible veterans temporarily residing in a home owned by a family member.

     Thomas Zampieri of the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) provided testimony about the need for sufficient adaptive housing grants for veterans. He said it is "important that adaptive housing basic grant adjustments keep pace with residential home cost-of-construction index for each preceding year for labor and construction materials." If disabled veterans are not able to make adaptive changes to their homes, they run the risk of falls and injuries that result in expensive emergency-room visits and costly hospital admissions. Further, if accessible housing grants are not sufficient to allow disabled veterans to live independently at home, the alternative high cost of institutional care in nursing homes will occur, he said. Mr. Zampieri also reported that current blindness standards are overly restrictive, hurting "functionally blinded" veterans from the Iraq and Afghan wars and some veterans with visual impairments caused by traumatic brain injuries requiring assistance and adaptive technology "because they would never qualify for this current 5/200 standard leaving them with no grants."

     Mark Bologna, director of Loan Guarantee Services at VA, discussed recent improvements: "Congress changed the program from a one-time to a three-time use program. This change has allowed individuals to make additional adaptations to their homes or upgrade existing adaptations. If they move to other homes and have remaining eligibility, they may now use the program to adapt the new homes as well. These legislative changes have significantly improved the benefits available to severely injured veterans and service members and have increased the overall flexibility of the SAH Grants program. Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs noted, "Every year, we have a new pool of veterans returning from the combat zones with serious injuries that include losing a limb, loss of vision, or suffering from traumatic brain injury. Now, more than ever, VA needs to actively advocate and provide support for wounded veterans, and the adaptive housing grant program is absolutely instrumental in the reintegration efforts of these heroes." [Source:  Washington Times Sgt. Shaf]