HUD-VASH and SSVF: Veteran Housing Assistance in 2026

HUD-VASH pairs a HUD rental voucher with a VA case manager for veterans who are homeless and need ongoing support. SSVF is the faster, shorter help: a local VA-funded grantee pays things like rent, deposits and moving costs to rehouse a very low-income veteran family or keep it from losing its home. HUD VASH and SSVF get mixed up constantly, and so does the third piece, VA's Grant and Per Diem transitional housing. Which one fits depends on where you're sleeping tonight, your income, and how much support you need. One thing holds for all of them: your local VA medical center, public housing agency or SSVF grantee makes the decision, not a website.

Which veteran housing program fits your situation

The program descriptions come from VA's pages for HUD-VASH, SSVF and Grant and Per Diem. VA's homeless programs hub lists more, including Health Care for Homeless Veterans, Legal Services for Veterans, Veterans Justice Programs and domiciliary care.

How the HUD-VASH program works

VA describes HUD-VASH as two pieces joined together: a Housing Choice Voucher from HUD that helps pay rent, and VA case management and supportive services that help a veteran stay housed. After you move in, a VA case manager stays involved with clinical support (primary care, mental health and substance use treatment), practical help such as budgeting for rent and understanding a lease, and longer-term support that "continues for as long as needed," in VA's words.

You rent from a private landlord. VA lists three conditions: the landlord accepts the voucher, the unit meets HUD requirements, and the rent falls within local program guidelines.

VA says HUD has awarded more than 116,000 HUD-VASH vouchers since 2008, including Tribal HUD-VASH rental subsidies, and the program runs in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As of March 2026, more than 95,000 formerly homeless veterans were living in homes through HUD-VASH. Tribal HUD-VASH serves eligible American Indian and Alaska Native veterans through tribes and tribally designated housing entities.

Who VA has in mind

VA says HUD-VASH is "specifically tailored for Veterans experiencing homelessness who have a need for ongoing, intensive case management," such as veterans with chronic health conditions. If you're homeless but mostly need a deposit and a few months of rent to get back on your feet, SSVF may be the closer fit. A VA homeless coordinator can tell you which one your local office would route you to.

Who decides, and the 2024 rule changes

HUD's current operating requirements for the HUD-VASH program, published in the Federal Register on August 13, 2024, split the job this way:

• VA decides eligibility and selects veterans. The notice says "eligibility determination and veteran selection is done by the VA." VA then refers eligible families to the partnering housing agency, which must accept the referrals. Housing agencies may not keep a separate HUD-VASH waiting list or apply local preferences.
• The housing agency checks income. The 2024 notice added a requirement that agencies serve HUD-VASH veterans up to the low-income limit, which it defines as 80% of area median income.
• VA disability pay is left out of the income test. For initial eligibility, the agency must exclude all VA service-connected benefits from annual income. HUD added this because, for a small share of homeless veterans, disability pay alone put them over the limit. The benefits still count when the agency calculates your share of the rent.
• Zero income is not a reason to deny you. The agency must accept your self-certification of zero income.
• Most criminal-history screening is waived, with one exception. Agencies must still deny admission if any household member is subject to lifetime registration under a state sex offender registration program. If that person isn't the veteran, the rest of the family can still be served once the family agrees to remove that member from the household.
• VA decides about case management. VA, in consultation with the veteran, decides whether case management is required and whether that requirement is met.

The 80% requirement is new as of the 2024 notice, so ask the housing agency which limit it applies.

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How SSVF works: rapid re-housing and prevention

VA's SSVF page describes the program as grants that provide housing stability services "to low-income Veteran families who are experiencing homelessness or are at imminent risk of experiencing homelessness." VA launched it in fiscal year 2012. It does two jobs: rapid re-housing for veterans who are already homeless, and homelessness prevention for those about to lose their housing. The help comes from local grantee organizations that VA funds, not from VA directly.

Who SSVF serves

The rules are in 38 CFR Part 62:

• Income. Under 38 CFR 62.2, a "very low-income veteran family" has annual income at or below 50% of the median income for the area, adjusted for family size. Unless VA announces otherwise, the area median comes from HUD's most recent Section 8 income limits. An "extremely low-income" family is at or below 30%.
• Veteran status. The same section defines a veteran as someone who served in the active military, naval or air service and was discharged or released, regardless of length of service. It excludes anyone with a dishonorable discharge or a discharge by sentence of a general court-martial.
• Family. A single veteran counts, and so does a household where the head of household or that person's spouse is a veteran.
• Housing situation. 38 CFR 62.11 covers families living in permanent housing who would become homeless without the grantee's help, families who are homeless now (a car, a park, a shelter, transitional housing) and are scheduled to move into permanent housing within 90 days, and families who left permanent housing in the past 90 days to look for housing that better fits their needs and are now homeless.

Rapid re-housing under SSVF is offered "without preconditions (such as employment, income, absence of criminal record, or sobriety)," according to the regulation's definition.

How much rent help SSVF can pay

38 CFR 62.34 sets the outer limits on rent help. A grantee can approve less, and it can ask you to cover part of the rent.

• Very low-income families can get up to 10 months of rent help in a 2-year period, and no more than 6 months in any 12-month period.
• Extremely low-income families can get up to 12 months in a 2-year period, and no more than 9 months in any 12-month period.
• Back rent counts. Payments can cover rent that's currently due or in arrears, plus penalties or fees owed under a lease or court order, if paying them keeps you housed or gets you into housing.
• The grantee pays whoever is owed the rent, and it has to help you build a plan for covering rent on your own afterward.

The same section lists utility payments (on the same month limits as rent), security and utility deposits once every 2 years, moving costs once every 3 years, and some emergency and employment-related items. A separate longer subsidy, up to 50% of reasonable rent for 2 years, exists only in counties VA picks for housing cost and availability and lists in the Federal Register each year.

To find a grantee, VA's SSVF page links to its list of awarded organizations. You can also call 877-424-3838; a VA responder can connect you with your local VA homeless program team.

Grant and Per Diem: transitional housing

VA's Grant and Per Diem program funds community organizations to run transitional supportive housing for veterans experiencing homelessness, as a step toward permanent housing. GPD also funds case management grants that help formerly homeless veterans keep their permanent housing. If you need somewhere to stay while a HUD-VASH voucher or SSVF move-in is being arranged, ask your VA homeless coordinator about GPD beds near you.

How to get help today

1. Call 877-424-3838. That's the National Call Center for Homeless Veterans. VA says the call is free, confidential and answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. VA also runs a free, confidential live chat that family members and friends helping a veteran can use too.
2. Or walk into your local VA medical center and ask for the Homeless Coordinator. VA's facility locator at va.gov/directory lists the nearest one.
3. Bring what you have. If you have a DD-214 or other proof of service, ID and income records, bring them, but don't wait on paperwork to make the call.
4. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 and press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line.

Behind on your mortgage? Start somewhere else

If you own your home and you're behind on payments, HUD-VASH and SSVF are usually the wrong door. HUD-VASH is a rental voucher for veterans who are already homeless. SSVF's rules do count an owned home as permanent housing, but the financial help the regulation lists (rent, utilities, deposits, moving costs and a few emergency items) doesn't include mortgage payments.

With a VA-backed loan, start with your servicer:

• Call your servicer right away. VA's trouble making payments page says to contact your loan servicer as soon as you're struggling.
• Bring in VA if you get stuck. VA loan technicians are at 877-827-3702 (TTY: 711), Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET. VA says it will counsel veterans and surviving spouses even when the loan isn't VA-guaranteed.
• Know the options before the call. Our guide to VA loan modification and every 2026 option if you're behind walks through VA's loss-mitigation steps in order.
• VASP is closed to new cases; the partial claim is new. VA stopped new VASP enrollments in May 2025 and began accepting Partial Claim Program submissions on June 15, 2026. Congress amended the program's statute on November 12, 2025, after first passing it earlier that year. The caps and qualifying rules are specific and still being rolled out to servicers, so read our VA Partial Claim Program guide for the current version rather than relying on a summary here.

If the home needs repairs rather than payment help, see what actually pays for home repairs for veterans. And if you've already been through a foreclosure, buying again with a VA loan after foreclosure covers the waiting periods and entitlement.

From a voucher toward owning a home

A Housing Choice Voucher doesn't have to mean renting forever. HUD's regulations include a homeownership option, but it's optional for each housing agency, so the first question is whether yours offers it. Under 24 CFR 982.625 and the sections after it:

• The agency chooses. A housing agency may offer monthly homeownership assistance payments, a single down payment assistance grant, both, or neither. It must offer one if it's needed as a reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability, though the agency decides what is reasonable and may decline if it doesn't otherwise run a homeownership program.
• First-time homeowner. Under 24 CFR 982.627, the family generally must be a first-time homeowner, already admitted to the voucher program, with no family member holding a present ownership interest in a residence.
• Minimum income. At least the federal minimum wage times 2,000 hours a year, or, for a disabled family, 12 times the monthly federal SSI benefit for an individual. The agency can set a higher bar.
• Work history. One adult owner working full time (an average of 30 hours a week) continuously for the past year. That requirement doesn't apply to elderly or disabled families.
• Time limit. Under 24 CFR 982.634, assistance generally stops after 15 years when the mortgage term is 20 years or longer. Elderly and disabled families are exempt from the maximum term.

Whether a HUD-VASH voucher can be used this way where you live is a question for your housing agency and VA case manager. A VA home loan is a separate path, and the voucher program doesn't require it. Our VA loan guide for first-time buyers explains how the zero-down VA loan works and what a lender that offers VA loans will look at.

Bottom line

HUD-VASH is for veterans who are homeless and need a voucher plus long-term VA support. SSVF is short-term help, through a local grantee, to get very low-income veteran families rehoused or keep them housed. GPD covers the in-between with transitional housing. Your local VA medical center, housing agency or grantee decides who gets what, and 877-424-3838 is the fastest way in. If you own your home and are behind, call your servicer and read our VA partial claim guide. When owning a home is the goal, the 2-minute eligibility check is a good place to start.