If you served, or someone in your family did, you may qualify for VA funding that pays for grab bars, walk-in showers, ramps, and other accessibility work in your home. The paperwork is the hard part, and we specialize in it. For a plain-language overview of every program, read our Veteran's Guide to Home Accessibility.
The Home Improvements and Structural Alterations grant, known as HISA, pays for permanent modifications that make your home safer and more accessible when a VA physician documents the medical need. These are the four areas it most commonly funds.
This is the lifetime HISA amount for veterans with a service-connected disability, and for non-service-connected conditions when the veteran holds a service-connected rating of 50 percent or higher.
This is the lifetime HISA amount for veterans with qualifying non-service-connected conditions who do not meet the 50 percent service-connected threshold.
The SHA grant funds home adaptations for specific qualifying service-connected disabilities. The fiscal year 2026 maximum is $25,350.
The SAH grant funds comprehensive home adaptation for severe service-connected disabilities. The fiscal year 2026 maximum is $126,526.
HISA is a lifetime benefit that can be used once or split across multiple projects over time. SAH and SHA amounts adjust each October; the figures above are the official fiscal year 2026 maximums published by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans living temporarily in a family member's home may also qualify for a Temporary Residence Adaptation grant. Our guide comparing HISA, SHA, and SAH explains which program fits which situation.
Stairlift coverage under HISA depends on how your local VA's Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service office interprets the permanent structural alteration requirement. The policy language can be read different ways, and approval varies case by case. We will not promise you an outcome that is not ours to promise.
What we do is build the strongest possible application. We work with your VA doctor and your local office to document a permanently installed stairlift as a medically necessary structural alteration, and when HISA does not apply, one of the other VA paths often does.
The HISA process is not complicated, but it does have specific steps. This is what to expect.
A VA physician writes a prescription describing the modification and the medical need. This prescription is the foundation of the entire application.
We visit your home, evaluate the space, and prepare an itemized written estimate covering labor, materials, permits, and inspections, which is the format the VA requires. The site visit is included for veterans applying for HISA, because the estimate is part of the paperwork your application package needs.
Your HISA application package includes the doctor's prescription, our itemized estimate, VA Form 10-0103, and proof of home ownership. If you rent, the VA requires a signed, notarized statement from the property owner approving the work. We help you assemble the package correctly, because a missing detail can set the application back weeks.
Your local Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service office reviews the application. Typical processing runs from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the office and the complexity of the request.
Once your authorization arrives, we schedule the installation and complete the approved scope. Under VA regulations, HISA benefits are paid to you, the veteran. You may request an advance of 50 percent of the approved amount in your application, and the balance is paid after the completed work is documented. Any upgrades beyond the approved scope are handled as private-pay additions with clear pricing.
Many of the veterans we serve are not the ones filling out the paperwork. Their adult children or spouses are. If you are coordinating HISA on behalf of a parent or spouse, we will walk you through every step and handle the contractor-side documentation entirely.
HISA applications commonly stall on incomplete documentation or weak medical justification. We prepare the contractor side of the package to the VA's requirements, itemized and formatted correctly, so your application is complete the first time.
The Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist credential from the National Association of Home Builders includes clinical coursework in how mobility and disability affect daily life in the home. Most contractors are generalists. This work is our specialty.
A grab bar does not have to look like it belongs in a nursing home, and a roll-in shower does not have to feel clinical. We design accessibility work that fits the home you actually live in.
We serve veterans across Ventura County, the Conejo Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, and Santa Barbara, and we schedule installations around your medical appointments.
These are the questions we hear most often about VA-funded home modifications. If yours is not here, call or text us directly.
Call (805) 500-0801The first step is a free in-home estimate. We look at your home, give you a clear picture of what the VA is likely to fund, and prepare the itemized estimate your application requires. There is no pressure and no obligation.
