More Colorado Disabled Veterans May Qualify for Subsidized Housing

Thanks to a 2024 U.S. District Court ruling in a class action suit brought by veterans against the Veterans Administration (VA), more disabled veterans in Colorado and across the country will be eligible for subsidized housing that is designed to serve low-income veterans. The case dealt with a rule of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that previously required service-related disability benefits to be counted as income when determining if a veteran qualified for low-income housing assistance. In many cases, those disability benefits caused the veteran’s overall income to be above the maximum allowed for housing assistance. And because disability payments increase according to what percentage of disability a veteran has, the result was that the most disabled veterans were also the most penalized as far as being ruled ineligible for housing assistance. The judge in the case ruled that the policy discriminated against disabled veterans, and he was quoted as saying, “Those who gave the most cannot receive the least.” The new policy also requires public housing agencies that administer HUD’s housing vouchers to set income eligibility for veterans at 80% of an area’s median income, up from 50%, which will also make more veterans eligible. Under the new policy, disability benefits will still be counted as income for determining how much rent a veteran must pay but not for determining eligibility. Tenants in subsidized housing are generally required to pay 30% of their income in rent. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs states there are approximately 400,000 veterans residing in Colorado. It is estimated roughly 30% of them have a service-connected disability. Colorado veterans can find information on available benefits and services at https://vets.colorado.gov/.