Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) Grant: Home Accessibility for Veterans

A Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grant can help you buy, build, or adapt a permanent home if you have a qualifying service-connected disability. A high disability rating alone does not qualify you: the award must match one of the specific disability categories, and you must own or plan to own the home.

What the grant pays for

Approved uses include constructing an adapted home, changing an existing home, buying an adapted home, or reducing the mortgage principal on a qualifying adapted home. It is a grant rather than a loan, but the approved amount and project costs determine how much help you receive. A VA home loan and an SAH grant have separate eligibility decisions.

Check the disability category and ownership rule

You must own or plan to own the permanent home and have qualifying service-connected disability entitlement. The usual categories include:

Both legs: Permanent and total loss or loss of use requiring braces, crutches, canes, or a wheelchair as your regular means of getting around.
One leg plus another disability: Permanent and total loss or loss of use of one leg together with either another organic disease or injury affecting balance or propulsion, or loss or loss of use of one arm. The combination must require regular use of those mobility aids.
Both arms: Permanent and total loss or loss of use that prevents use of the arms at or above the elbows.
Vision: Permanent blindness in both eyes, with best corrected vision of 20/200 or worse in the better eye, or a qualifying visual field of 20 degrees or less. A separate leg disability is not required for this category.
Burns: Permanent and total disability from full-thickness or subdermal burns causing contractures that limit movement of at least two extremities, or one extremity and the trunk.
ALS: Service-connected amyotrophic lateral sclerosis rated 100% disabling.

A separate pathway covers certain Veterans who lost or lost the use of one lower extremity after September 11, 2001, and cannot balance or walk without braces, crutches, a cane, or a wheelchair. Only 120 Veterans can receive an SAH grant through that pathway per fiscal year. If that year's allocation is exhausted, ask about eligibility in a later year rather than treating it as a permanent denial.

Occasionally walking another way does not necessarily rule out a category that requires regular, constant use of mobility aids. Describe your ordinary mobility and provide the rating decision and medical evidence showing the exact functional loss.

Plan around your approved remaining grant

The latest published SAH maximum available when this guide was checked on October 10, 2026, was $126,526 for fiscal year 2026, October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026. That period has ended. For a grant awarded from October 1, 2026, onward, ask your SAH agent for the fiscal year 2027 limit and your remaining entitlement before agreeing to a project budget.

You can use SAH up to six times over your lifetime. This does not mean six full grants: earlier payments count against the cumulative limit, which is tied to the maximum in the year of your last use. Ask for a written record of previous payments and uses.

For a hypothetical approved balance of $40,000 and an approved $55,000 project, you would still need a plan for the $15,000 difference. The grant is not a promise to pay any contractor's quoted price.

Apply first, then agree on the project

Apply with VA Form 26-4555. Use the online housing grant application, or download the form from the application instructions. Have your Social Security number and VA file number, if different, ready.
Submit the paper form if you prefer. Mail it to Department of Veterans Affairs, Claims Intake Center, PO Box 4444, Janesville, WI 53547-4444, or bring it to a VA regional office. Keep a copy and proof of submission.
Respond to eligibility questions. Provide requested disability or ownership information. The decision on eligibility comes before approval of a particular construction or adaptation plan.
Work with the assigned SAH agent. Confirm the approved amount, designs, contractor arrangements, inspections, and payment process before starting work or making commitments that depend on the grant.

If you cannot locate your application or need the next step, call 877-827-3702 and ask for housing grant assistance. If denied, read which disability or ownership requirement was not met and use the review options and deadlines in the decision letter; an accredited representative can help identify the missing evidence.

Avoid commitments the grant has not approved

Using a rating percentage as the only eligibility test. Match the disability category and functional requirements as well.
Budgeting from an expired fiscal-year maximum. Use your approved current balance, including earlier grants.
Starting work before project approval. Eligibility alone does not authorize a contractor's plan or guarantee reimbursement.
Counting the same work under two benefits. Tell your SAH agent if you are also applying for HISA or another adaptation benefit so costs can be coordinated.

If you live in someone else's home

For permanent adaptations, SAH requires your ownership or planned ownership. If a family member owns the permanent home, check whether your disability instead qualifies for the Special Home Adaptation grant, which permits family ownership.

If you are temporarily living in a family member's home and qualify for SAH or SHA, ask about a Temporary Residence Adaptation (TRA) grant. TRA has separate limits; you do not need to own that temporary home. A rented home may instead qualify for medically necessary HISA alterations with the required owner permission.

Your next step

Gather your rating decision and a short description of the barriers in the home. Submit Form 26-4555 or call 877-827-3702 to discuss the relevant category and the project's next step with a housing grant specialist.