Special Home Adaptation (SHA) Grant: A Guide for Veterans

A Special Home Adaptation (SHA) grant can help adapt a permanent home owned by you or a family member if you have one of the qualifying service-connected disabilities. It can also help buy a home already adapted for your needs. Before obtaining a quote, check the disability requirements and the remaining amount of your grant.

How SHA differs from SAH

SHA and Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) have different qualifying disabilities and ownership rules. They are not simply smaller and larger grants for the same conditions. SHA permits a family member to own the permanent home; SAH ordinarily requires that you own or plan to own it. Permanent blindness meeting the current vision threshold belongs under SAH, not SHA.

Check the qualifying disability

You or a family member must own or plan to own the permanent home. For SHA, qualifying service-connected disability entitlement must involve a permanent and total disability in one of these categories:

Loss or loss of use of both hands.
Deep partial-thickness burns with contractures limiting movement of at least two extremities, or one extremity and the trunk.
Full-thickness or subdermal burns with contractures limiting movement of at least one extremity or the trunk.
Residuals of an inhalation injury, such as pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Having one of those diagnoses without the qualifying injury and service-connected entitlement is not enough.

SHA is generally for someone who is not eligible for SAH and has not already received SAH assistance. If you receive SHA and later meet SAH criteria, ask about that later entitlement; do not assume you can claim both full maximums independently.

Know the amount available for your project

The latest published SHA maximum available when this guide was checked on October 10, 2026, was $25,350 for fiscal year 2026, October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026. That period has ended. For an award from October 1, 2026, onward, confirm the fiscal year 2027 maximum and your remaining balance with your housing grant agent.

You may use SHA up to six times over your lifetime, with previous payments counting toward the cumulative maximum for the year of your last use. Moving or making a new application does not restore six full grants.

Approved adaptations can include changes to doors, bathrooms, or other features required by your disability, and the grant can help purchase an already adapted home. For example, if your approved remaining balance were $10,000 and an approved bathroom project cost $14,000, you would need a plan for the other $4,000. These are hypothetical figures, not an award estimate.

Apply with the housing grant form

Submit VA Form 26-4555. Start the online housing grant application or download the form from the paper application instructions. Have your Social Security number and VA file number, if different, ready.
For a paper application, mail the form to Department of Veterans Affairs, Claims Intake Center, PO Box 4444, Janesville, WI 53547-4444, or bring it to a VA regional office. Keep your copy and proof of submission.
Establish eligibility before committing to work. Respond to requests for disability and ownership information. After the eligibility decision, coordinate the proposed adaptations, contractor, approved costs, inspections, and payment process with your assigned housing grant agent.

Call 877-827-3702 if you need help locating the application or reaching the housing grant team. For a denial, identify the unmet requirement in the written decision and follow its review options and deadlines. An accredited representative can help address disability evidence; a contractor's quote does not establish benefit eligibility.

Check these before you hire a contractor

Using the old SHA blindness category. Check SAH for qualifying permanent blindness instead.
Treating any burn or respiratory condition as sufficient. The type of injury, resulting limitations, and permanent and total entitlement matter.
Using a previous year's maximum as a current budget. Confirm the current approved balance and earlier payments.
Starting before the adaptation plan is approved. Ask which commitments and costs have been authorized first.

What if the home is temporary or rented?

If you qualify for SAH or SHA but are temporarily living in a family member's home, ask about a Temporary Residence Adaptation (TRA) grant. You do not need to own that temporary home, and TRA has separate grant limits.

If you rent the home, medically necessary work may fit the HISA program with the required landlord permission. HISA does not require one of SHA's specific disability categories, but it has its own medical approval and lifetime limits.

Your next step

Have the disability decision and the name of the property's owner ready. Apply with Form 26-4555 or call 877-827-3702 to discuss SHA, SAH, or TRA eligibility and the next step for the home.