Housing Grant

[admiral7]

Has anyone on the board applied or used this benefit?If so how long does the entire process take from request to recieving the actual grant?What all is involved in the process and how do they pay the grant.I am looking to purchase a new adapted house and need to understand the process.

[Berta]

The New regs are here:

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,159375,00.html

Also more Special Adaptive Housing info is available under a search here

[Pete53]

Next time you go to Dallas VAMC you can go and visit with the people who administer the program. They office with the department that gives out equipment that is ordered by Doc's. They are very nice and I think that they will explain it better than just reading the regs but as you know you should probably check them out to confirm.You don't need an appointment.

Another thing to look at is Independent Living who seem to be a little more flexible if the money spent improves a Vets life. They even have a list of contractors but I know that they approve by committee and the contractor has to provide a detailed estimate and drawings and they don't pay till about 6 weeks after work is completed.

[ronn]

Has anyone on the board applied or used this benefit?If so how long does the entire process take from request to recieving the actual grant?What all is involved in the process and how do they pay the grant.I am looking to purchase a new adapted house and need to understand the process.

In my last award letter i was informed that i was elegiable for voc rehab. Signed up and went for orination and interrview !

They recommended me for ILP.

From there an independent contractor came to my home to see how they could help me . After his report , the voc rehab counsler recommended I be given a grant for home improvements. This process has taken approx 60 days .

And that is where we stand today.

Approval must come from the regional office.

I'll try to keep you informed as it progresses. Ronn

[rentalguy1]

WHat kind of home improvements, ronn, if I can ask? I have a two bathrooms in my house, and both are literally the size of a phone booth. Not very friendly to someone who has limited use of their legs. I was thinking of trying for a adaptive home grant to build a larger bathroon after my claims are finalized.

[Bound4heaven]

Greetings,

I just used my grant less then 8 months ago. When you were awarded this benefit you should have recieved an award letter with this information included along with the necessary application to apply to go to the next step for this benefit. If you did not receive this, contact your nearest RO and asked for the adapted housing officer, and he will help you begin the process. I added an addition to my home. I already had the plans for the addition. I had to submit the plans to the VA housing officer along with a bid from a contractor. The award amount is $50,000.00. Now how this is paid out is where it got tricky for me. The amount cannot be paid to you it either must be paid to the contractor (It is paid in draws to the contractor $15,000.00, $15,00,000 & $20,000.00.) or to the bank where you got your home loan to pay down the mortage of the loan (ie home loan, or home equity loan). You must also open up a seperate account for this money (ie escrow account) It cost me $100.00 for this account (VA does not pay for it) this allows payment to the contractor. 3 people must sign for each draw you, contractor, and the VA housing officer.

The process took me about 6 months until when I applied from the time the money was given out. Please be advised the housing officer will make 3-5 home visits and inspections. My advice to you and you alreday know this if you are rated loss of use, is that you must be on top of it. With the VA do not!!!!!!!!!!!!!! assume anything. At one point I had to call my VA housing officer 5 days in a roll 2 times daily for him to get back to me.

If you have all your ducks in line and are willing to babysit these guys then you will do fine. Do not go into this expecting it to be a 2 week thing. I pray it goes well with you. Keep us updated. God bless.

Bound4Heaven