Grants to Help Disabled Buy a Home: What Pays in 2026

Grants to help disabled people buy a home exist, but there are far fewer of them than most lists suggest. The largest federal grant that pays toward buying a home is VA's Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) grant, up to $126,526 in fiscal year 2026, and it's limited to veterans and service members with specific severe service-connected disabilities. Almost everything else is a 0% or deferred loan from a state housing finance agency, a HUD voucher that helps with the monthly payment, or a USDA loan with payment assistance. Those can still be the difference between renting and owning, as long as you know which kind of help you're signing up for.

Which programs help disabled buyers pay for a home?

Seven programs can help a buyer with a disability pay for a home, and only the two VA grants are lump sums you never repay. Voucher help isn't repaid either, but it comes as monthly payments. The last column is the one to read first.

The VA grant amounts come from VA's disability housing grants page, which still shows FY 2026 figures as of November 4, 2026. VA says it may adjust the maximums each year based on the cost of construction, so FY 2027 amounts may be higher once VA posts them. The voucher rules come from 24 CFR 982.627 and 24 CFR 982.634.

On a $300,000 home, the SAH grant can do more than the other programs in the chart combined, but only a small group of veterans qualifies. For everyone else, the state loan programs carry most of the weight. The funding fee waiver isn't something you compete for: if you receive VA disability compensation, you're exempt.

The VA SAH grant: the main grant that pays toward buying a home

The SAH grant pays up to $126,526 in FY 2026 toward buying, building or changing a permanent home for a veteran or service member with a qualifying service-connected disability, such as the loss or loss of use of more than one limb. It's a grant, so you don't pay it back. VA's page says you can use grant money up to 6 different times over your lifetime, and all six uses draw on one maximum.

The SAH grant doesn't cover a whole purchase. Under 38 CFR 36.4402, an SAH grant toward buying or building a home generally pays no more than 50% of the cost, up to the program maximum. On a $300,000 adapted home, half the cost is $150,000, so the $126,526 cap is the limit, and the other $173,474 has to come from a mortgage or your own money. A VA loan is the usual pairing.

The smaller Special Home Adaptation (SHA) grant, up to $25,350 in FY 2026, pays for adaptations rather than the house itself. It covers the actual cost of the adaptations, or their fair market value if the home you buy already has them, up to the cap. Our SAH grant guide covers eligibility, the six-use rule and how the grant pairs with a VA loan, and the HISA grant guide covers VA's smaller grant for medically necessary changes.

The VA funding fee waiver for veterans receiving VA compensation

A veteran who receives VA compensation for a service-connected disability doesn't pay the VA funding fee. VA's funding fee page lists the exempt groups:

• Veterans receiving VA compensation for a service-connected disability
• Veterans eligible for compensation who receive retirement or active-duty pay instead
• Surviving spouses receiving Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC)
• Service members with a proposed or memorandum rating, before the loan closes, that says they're eligible for compensation because of a pre-discharge claim
• Active-duty service members who provide evidence of a Purple Heart on or before closing

The fee on a first-use VA purchase loan is 2.15% with less than 5% down, 1.5% with 5% down and 1.25% with 10% down. On a $300,000 loan with no down payment, the waiver saves $6,450. It isn't a grant. It's a cost you never pay. Our funding fee disability exemption guide explains how to fix a COE that shows the fee as owed and how refunds work.

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Using a Section 8 voucher to buy a home with a disability

A Housing Choice Voucher can pay toward a mortgage instead of rent through HUD's homeownership option, and the rules are easier for disabled families. A local public housing agency decides whether to run a homeownership program, but 24 CFR 982.625 says it must offer homeownership assistance if that's needed as a reasonable accommodation for a person with disabilities. The agency judges what's reasonable in each case, and an agency that doesn't run a program may decide it isn't reasonable to start one.

Three rules in 24 CFR 982.627 and 982.634 change for a disabled family:

• No employment requirement. Other families need an adult owner working full time (an average of at least 30 hours a week) for the year before assistance starts. That rule doesn't apply to a disabled family.
• A lower income floor. For a disabled family, the adult owners' annual income has to be at least 12 times the monthly SSI benefit for one person. For other families, it's the federal minimum wage times 2,000 hours, which at the $7.25 federal minimum wage is $14,500.
• No time limit. Homeownership assistance normally stops after 15 years on a mortgage of 20 years or longer, or 10 years otherwise. The limit doesn't apply to elderly and disabled families.

You generally have to be a first-time homeowner, which 24 CFR 982.4 defines as a family in which no one owned a home in the three years before assistance starts. A family with a member who has a disability can be exempt from that rule when the homeownership option is needed as a reasonable accommodation. Ask your housing agency whether it runs the program and what lenders it works with.

USDA Section 502 direct loans for low-income rural buyers

The USDA Section 502 direct loan can finance up to 100% of an existing home's market value, so a down payment often isn't needed, for low-income buyers in eligible rural areas. It isn't a disability program, but it's one of the few mortgages built around a small income. Under 7 CFR 3550.53, your adjusted income must be at or below the area's low-income limit at approval, and you must be unable to get the credit elsewhere on terms you could reasonably meet.

The payment assistance is what makes it work on disability income. 7 CFR 3550.68 limits the help so your payment never drops below what it would be if the loan were amortized at 1% interest, so the effective rate can drop as low as 1% for the lowest incomes. The help isn't a grant, though: the same rule says payment subsidies are subject to recapture when you transfer title or stop living in the home. Other terms:

• Term. 33 years in most cases, 38 years if your income is at or below 60% of the area median and the longer term is needed to show you can repay, and 30 years for a manufactured home (7 CFR 3550.67).
• Loan amount. Up to 100% of market value for existing housing, within the area loan limit (7 CFR 3550.63).
• Debt ratios. Principal, interest, taxes and insurance generally can't exceed 33% of repayment income, and total debts 41%.

Income limits and the note rate change, so confirm the current figures with your local USDA Rural Development office.

State housing finance agency programs for buyers with disabilities

Several state housing finance agencies run home loan programs for buyers with disabilities, and they matter most for buyers who don't qualify for SAH. Read the terms closely, because these are loans. Three current examples:

• Maryland HomeAbility. Reopened July 1, 2026, per the Maryland Mortgage Program's Directive 2026-05. A fixed-rate first mortgage covers up to 95% of the price, and a 0% second loan covers down payment and closing costs, up to 25% of the price with a $45,000 maximum. Combined, the two loans can't exceed 105% of the price. The second loan's payment is deferred for the life of the first mortgage, and income can't exceed 80% of the area median.
• Pennsylvania ACCESS. PHFA's ACCESS Home Modification program lends $1,000 to $10,000 at 0% to buyers with a permanent disability, or with a household member who has one, to make accessibility changes. It's used with a PHFA Keystone Home Loan or Keystone Government Loan. It has no monthly payment and, per PHFA's ACCESS Home Modification page, is due when the home is sold, transferred or no longer owner-occupied. Buyers who use it can add up to $15,000 in ACCESS down payment and closing cost help, also with no interest, if household income is at or below 80% of the statewide median.
• Connecticut Home of Your Own. CHFA's program takes an extra 0.125% off its below-market rates for first-time buyers with a disability, or with a disabled household member who will live in the home, and lists down payment assistance as available. Proof can include SSI documentation.

On a $300,000 Maryland home, HomeAbility's 25% limit would be $75,000, so the $45,000 cap is the ceiling. The 105% combined limit usually binds first: with a 95% first mortgage ($285,000), total loans can't pass $315,000, so the second loan tops out at $30,000. That's $15,000 for the 5% down payment and up to $15,000 for closing costs. The full $45,000 only fits with a first mortgage of 90% or less. Other states run their own versions. Check your state housing finance agency's site for "disability" or "accessible" programs, and ask a HUD-approved housing counselor what you can combine.

Habitat for Humanity and other nonprofit routes

Habitat for Humanity doesn't give houses away. Future homeowners help build or fix up their homes alongside volunteers and then buy them with an affordable mortgage. Habitat's application page says a home counts as affordable when you pay no more than 30% of your income toward the mortgage, and every application goes through your local affiliate. Ask your affiliate how it handles the building requirement for applicants with disabilities.

Centers for independent living, state developmental disabilities agencies and HUD-approved housing counselors can help you find local programs and line up the paperwork. We don't rank or endorse nonprofits. Be wary of anyone who charges an upfront fee to "find" a grant.

Bottom line

Grants to help disabled buyers purchase a home are mostly limited to VA's SAH and SHA grants for specific service-connected disabilities. For everyone else, the help comes as 0% or deferred state loans, voucher payments toward a mortgage, or a USDA loan with payment assistance, and you should plan for the ones that must be repaid. If you're a veteran receiving VA disability compensation, start with a VA loan, which may need no down payment and carries no funding fee for you, then layer on any grant or state program you qualify for. Start with a 2-minute eligibility check.