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Chapter 115 Benefits — Monthly Cash and Medical Costs, Paid by Your City or Town
A means-tested, open-ended entitlement paid monthly by the municipality where you live: money for food, shelter, clothing, fuel and support of dependants, plus payment of medical and dental costs. The Commonwealth reimburses the town 75% of what it pays you.
Verified August 22, 2026
What this benefit is
A means-tested, open-ended entitlement paid monthly by the municipality where you live: money for food, shelter, clothing, fuel and support of dependants, plus payment of medical and dental costs. The Commonwealth reimburses the town 75% of what it pays you.
What it's worth: A monthly payment set against a budget, plus payment of medical and dental costs
- The amount is not a fixed figure. §5 says only such amount shall be paid "as may be necessary to afford them sufficient relief or support", measured against a standard budget the veterans’ agent works out under 108 CMR.
- Income does not automatically bar you. §5 is explicit that income "in an amount insufficient for their support shall not bar the applicant from receiving veterans’ benefits to supplement the same".
- The budget is uprated every 1 July by the rise in the consumer price index for 1 January of that year over 1 January of the previous year, plus any further percentage the secretary recommends and the legislature appropriates.
- Benefits include an amount for fuel in the winter months where you pay your own heating costs.
- We hold no dollar figure for the standard budget or the income ceiling: those sit in a chart the Executive Office of Veterans Services reissues annually, which we did not read this session.
Who is entitled to it
- Benefits under this chapter are paid to the veteran.
- Dependants of a veteran apply in their own right under this chapter.
- Your discharge is of a character these benefits are written around.
- You live in Massachusetts, which is what the residence proviso turns on.
- Your home is in Massachusetts.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
- 1Call the veterans’ service officer for your own city or town. This is the whole route in: the officer takes the application, the state office approves it, and the municipality pays you.
- 2Apply promptly. §5 bars payment "for any period of time prior to the date of application" — with one exception: on the veterans’ agent’s recommendation the secretary may authorise up to 60 days of back benefits where the need was caused by serious accident or illness to you or a dependant.
- 3Do not wait on the residence test. The proviso is one day of actual residence in the Commonwealth preceding the application date, and a veteran who actually resided here when they entered or continued in service, together with their dependants, is eligible with no waiting period at all.
- 4Ask about emergency money before approval. §5 lets a city or town pay what is needed to meet an applicant’s emergency needs before the state approves the application, provided the veterans’ agent immediately sends the secretary a written statement of their reasons.
- 5Ask for the medical side, not just the cash. The Executive Office describes financial, medical and dental assistance under this chapter, and since the 2024 HERO Act outpatient behavioural health — psychiatric care, substance use disorder treatment, other mental health care and prescriptions — is included. Inpatient hospital stays are not.
- 6If a cost-of-living rise has just pushed your income up, apply anyway. A COLA increase to social security, SSI or SSDI cannot make you ineligible in the year it was issued.
- 7Ask whether your municipality pays by direct deposit — since the 2024 amendments a city or town may disburse by direct deposit with your written authorisation, or by post.
- Form
- Chapter 115/Safety Net application, taken through your local Veterans Service Officer
- File with
- The veterans’ service officer of the city or town where you live
- Documents you will need
- dd214
- Annual recertification
- The office asks you to confirm each year.
CorrectionThis is not an emergency grant and not a one-off cheque. It is an ongoing entitlement with a monthly payment and a medical side, and it has no end date while the need and the eligibility last. Veterans routinely turn it down having been told it is a hardship fund.
CorrectionThe residence test is one day. §5 requires that the veteran "actually resided within the commonwealth for 1 day preceding the date of their application", and imposes no waiting period at all on a veteran who lived here when they entered or continued in service. Do not let a supposed multi-year residency rule stop you applying.
Worth knowingThe 75% figure is a reimbursement between the Commonwealth and your municipality, not a share of your payment. You receive the full benefit from the city or town; the state pays three quarters of it back to them the following November. It matters only because it explains why a town has little reason to turn you away.
Worth knowingPayments cannot be assigned and are not subject to trustee process. But the veterans’ agent may require you to hand over a federal pension or compensation to be spent on your relief first, and where the need arises from an accident, illness or someone else’s fault, may require you to assign the proceeds of workers’ compensation, insurance or a damages claim — that assignment operates as a lien on the money for the total benefits paid.
Worth knowingA town may pay more than the state approves. §5 says nothing in the chapter prohibits a city or town granting benefits in excess of the amount authorised or approved by the secretary in a particular case.
Known gapThe standard budget chart and the income and asset ceilings live in 108 CMR and in a chart the Executive Office reissues each 1 July. The regulation is published only as a PDF that resisted retrieval this session, so we carry no figures for the budget, the income limit or the asset limit. Ask your veterans’ service officer for the current chart, or use the department’s own benefit estimator.
Known gap§5 sets out disqualifications we have not researched in detail: dishonorable discharge from a veterans’ home, a conviction where the veterans’ agent and the secretary so rule, neglect to support dependants, and need caused by voluntary idleness. Several are discretionary rather than automatic. Ask the officer how they are applied before assuming you are shut out.
Sources
- authority · statuteM.G.L. c.115 §5 — payment of veterans’ benefits by city or town; the one-day residence proviso; no back benefits before application save 60 days for serious accident or illness; emergency payment before approval; annual CPI uprating of the basic budget; cost-of-living adjustments cannot cause ineligibility; fuel in winter months (as amended by St.2024, c.178, §§87-103)
- authority · statuteM.G.L. c.115 §6 — reimbursement of cities and towns: 75% of the amounts of veterans’ benefits paid, but none of the expenses of paying them, reimbursed by the Commonwealth on or before 10 November of the following year; 100% for recipients in certain housing on federal land, capped at 48 months
- operating · published policyExecutive Office of Veterans Services — Chapter 115 Benefits/Safety Net Program (daily living expenses, medical costs, rent assistance, support of dependants, homelessness prevention; outpatient behavioural health under the HERO Act; apply through your local VSO)
- operating · published policyExecutive Office of Veterans Services — MASSVETS Veteran Financial Benefits (Chapter 115 described as a means-tested programme for food, shelter, clothing, fuel and medical care; benefit estimator; COLA protection)
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.