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Veteran Bathroom Remodel: What the $6,800 HISA Grant Covers
We install in Houston, Austin and San Antonio, Texas. Out of state? Your local VA office can point you to an installer.
For a lot of veterans, the bathroom is the room that stops working first. The tub wall gets too high to step over, the shower door is too narrow for a walker, and a fall on wet tile is the thing everyone in the family is quietly worried about. The VA's HISA grant exists for exactly this. It helps pay for a roll-in shower and the changes around it when a VA doctor says you need them.
This post covers the money side: how much the grant pays, which bathroom work it covers, what it will not pay for, and how to plan for the part it does not cover. If you have not applied yet, our guide to VA Form 10-0103 and how long a HISA grant takes walks through the paperwork.
How much the grant pays
HISA stands for Home Improvements and Structural Alterations. It is a lifetime amount, not a yearly one, and it comes in two sizes:
Up to $6,800 if the bathroom work is for a service-connected condition, or for any condition when you have a service-connected rating of 50 percent or more.
Up to $2,000 for veterans enrolled in VA health care whose condition does not meet those tests.
Because it is a lifetime amount, anything you used on an earlier HISA project, a ramp for example, comes off the total. The prosthetics office at your VA medical center can tell you what you have left. If you are not sure which amount applies to you, our post on who is eligible for the HISA grant covers it.
What the grant pays for in a bathroom
The VA's rules name roll-in, barrier-free showers, and the conversion of a bathtub to a seated shower, as work the grant is meant for. The goal is simple: you can get into the bathroom and use the toilet and the shower safely. The VA calls that access to "essential lavatory and sanitary facilities," and it means one bathroom with a toilet and a shower or bath.
Around the shower itself, the same rules list other work that often goes into a veteran's bathroom:
Widening the bathroom doorway for a wheelchair or walker
Handrails
Lowering or changing the bathroom sink and counter
Moving outlets and light switches to a reachable height, and better lighting
Plumbing changes the new shower needs
Materials and labor, plus the permits and inspections the city or county requires
Everything has to be on the prescription your VA doctor writes. If the doorway needs widening and the prescription only mentions the shower, ask your doctor to add it before you apply.
What the grant will not pay for
This is where families get caught out. The VA's rules specifically exclude:
Walk-in tubs, along with jetted, spa, hydrotherapy, and Jacuzzi-style tubs. If a walk-in tub is what you had in mind, HISA will not pay for it. A roll-in or seated shower is the version it covers.
Routine repairs, like fixing an old leak or replacing a water heater because it wore out.
Work already paid for by another VA housing grant, so the same shower is not funded twice.
The grant also stays inside the lines of what is medically needed. Upgrading the tile because you like it better is your cost, not the VA's.
Where the $6,800 goes on a real job
A full roll-in shower is more than a new shower pan. On a HISA bathroom we built for a veteran, the old shower and wall panels came out, the concrete was cut so the new floor could sit slightly lower than the bathroom floor for drainage, and new tile went on the floor and walls so there was no curb left to trip on.
Our full bathroom conversions start above the $6,800 lifetime maximum, so plan for the grant to pay part of the job, not all of it. The grant is a ceiling, not a price. Your written estimate shows the exact gap before anything is ordered, so you can decide with the numbers in front of you.
If you need to fit the job closer to the grant, the usual levers are:
Converting the tub you have to a seated shower instead of rebuilding the whole room.
Keeping the plumbing where it is. Moving the drain or the valve adds to the cost.
Doing the doorway only if the prescription needs it. Widening a door means moving framing, and sometimes a light switch or a vent.
We talk through these at the free in-home assessment, before you commit to anything.
How the money actually arrives
The VA pays the veteran, not the contractor. Two things about the timing are worth knowing before the work starts:
Ask for the advance. If you check the advance payment box on VA Form 10-0103, the VA pays half of the approved amount within 30 days of approval. Without it, you wait until the end.
Close it out on time. After the work is done, you send the VA a statement that it is finished, a color photo of the completed bathroom, and the itemized actual costs. The rules give you 60 days from approval, or from the advance, to do that. The rest of the grant is paid after that.
If the job comes in under the approved amount, the leftover stays on your lifetime balance for a future project.
Do not start demolition before the approval is in writing. What you can do while you wait is have the assessment done and the estimate written, so the bathroom is ready to schedule the day the approval arrives.
Other ways to cover the rest
HISA is rarely the only money on the table:
VA housing grants. Veterans with certain serious service-connected disabilities may also qualify for a Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) or Special Home Adaptation (SHA) grant through VA benefits. These are much larger and separate from HISA. The VA says you can have both, as long as they do not pay for the same work.
Your own taxes. What you pay yourself may count as a medical expense. Our post on whether home modifications are tax deductible explains the rules, and you should confirm them with your tax preparer.
Other programs. Our who pays for it page lists the other programs Texas families use, and the veterans page covers the VA options in one place.
Common questions
Does HISA pay for a walk-in tub?
No. The VA's rules exclude walk-in, jetted, spa, and Jacuzzi-style tubs. A roll-in shower or a tub converted to a seated shower is covered.
Can I use HISA more than once?
Yes, until you reach your lifetime limit of $6,800 or $2,000. Every project, bathroom or not, counts toward it.
Does the VA pay LiveWell directly?
No. The VA pays you, the veteran. That is why asking for the advance on the form matters, and why a written estimate that matches the prescription makes the whole process smoother.
Do I need three estimates?
The federal regulation asks for one written, itemized estimate for labor, materials, permits, and inspections. Some prosthetics offices ask for more. Check with yours before you submit.
Start with a free assessment
We build roll-in showers for veterans in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio, and we know what a HISA packet needs. After a free in-home assessment, we write the itemized estimate the VA wants to see and take the before photo for your application. See our accessible bathroom work, or contact us to book the visit.
Sources
More on the HISA grant
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