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REPUBLICAN
PRESS RELEASE
June 7, 2007
Boozman calls for increased specially adapted housing grants for
disabled veterans
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Phillips 202-225-3527
Washington, D.C. — A Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity oversight
hearing today on Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) specially adapted
housing (SAH) grants showed the need for increased grant levels to meet
the requirements of seriously disabled veterans and their families.
The SAH program provides grants up to $50,000 to severely
service-disabled veterans and servicemembers to help them modify their
homes to accommodate their disabilities.
“The program is relatively small in comparison to the GI bill, but is
vitally important to those who qualify,” said John Boozman (R-Ark.),
subcommittee ranking member. “A major issue continues to be the buying
power of the grants. There is also significant inflation in construction
costs, especially in high cost areas, causing it to become difficult to
completely modify a home. Along with that, is the issue of differences
in regional costs.”
VA currently has two types of SAH grants:
* A $10,000 grant for those who are blind or have lost the use of both
hands.
* A $50, 000 grant for those who have lost the use of both lower
extremities, upper extremities above the elbow, a combination of
blindness plus loss of extremity use, or a combination of loss of
extremity use plus residuals from organic disease.
Witnesses suggested that indexing the grants to an appropriate
construction cost model may be a solution. Any increases in the
specially adapted housing benefits will require “pay as you go” (PAYGO)
offsets that identify cuts elsewhere in mandatory funding to offset
these expenditures.
This year, Subcommittee Chair Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-S.D.)
introduced H.R. 675, the Disabled Veterans Adaptive Housing Act, which
Boozman is co-sponsoring. The bill would increase the amount of
assistance available to disabled veterans for specially adaptive housing
grants. The bill would increase the maximum amount from the current
$50,000 to $60,000.
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Larry Scott
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