VA Funding Available to Create Technology Helping Eligible Service Members and Veterans Adapt Their Homes

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs has Specially Adapted Housing Assistive Technology grants available for fiscal year 2022 to develop new technologies that enhance the ability of seriously disabled service members and Veterans to live more independently.

VA encourages researchers, organizations and individual technology developers to apply for SAHAT grant funding via Grants.gov. by 11:59 p.m., ET, March. 11, to develop specially adapted housing assistive technologies that will improve the livability of Veterans’ adapted residences.

VA issues the Notice of Funding Opportunity in the Federal Register to foster competition among technology developers, funding innovation that will best serve the needs of certain seriously disabled service members and Veterans.  

Since 2016, when VA awarded its first SAHAT grant, VA has awarded 22 grants. To date, these grants have resulted in the introduction of new products to the accessibility industry used to improve the lives of Veterans, including:

• AI-powered mobile scanner and reader enabling blind and visually impaired users to read text independently.
• Smart guidance: a customized disability-adapted bathroom module designed to bring users closer to independent living by providing a safer bathroom environment and permitting home care.
• Robotic overbed table for beds, recliners and wheelchairs allowing users to independently deploy, position and store mobile devices using accessible switches or a remote from a bed or chair.

“Awarding up to $200,000 per grant to develop technology will ultimately help make homes more livable for seriously disabled service members and Veterans,” said Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits Mike Frueh. “In addition to the SAHAT program, VA also administers Specially Adapted Housing grants to eligible service members and Veterans with certain serious service-connected disabilities to purchase or adapt a home that suits their individual needs.”

To learn more about SAHAT, visit VA.gov and Notice of Funding Opportunity.