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Veteran’s Relief Grant — One Grant, Once in a Lifetime

A discretionary grant paid straight to your creditors for rent, mortgage, utilities, home or vehicle repair, medical bills, childcare or tools. You get it once, ever.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

A discretionary grant paid straight to your creditors for rent, mortgage, utilities, home or vehicle repair, medical bills, childcare or tools. You get it once, ever.

What it's worth: An amount set case by case, paid direct to the vendors you name

  • Minn. R. 9055.0455 leaves the maximum to the commissioner, decided on the applicant’s circumstances, the prospect of financial self-sufficiency and the funding available. No cap is published, so we publish none.
  • The money never reaches your hands: approved amounts are paid direct to the vendors named in the application.
  • Because it is once per lifetime, the practical value is whatever the single largest solvable problem costs — which argues for using it on the bill that would otherwise cascade.

Who is entitled to it

  • The rule reaches you — as the veteran, or as a surviving spouse where the veteran never took it.
  • You are the veteran, or a reserve member called to extended federal active duty.
  • You are a surviving spouse, and the veteran did not take this grant in their lifetime.
  • The discharge was honorable, or general under honorable conditions.
  • Your home is in Minnesota.

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

  1. 1Understand the one-shot rule before you apply. Once MDVA pays for any approved item or expense, you are ineligible for a further relief grant for the rest of your life — so spend the application on the problem that matters most.
  2. 2Work out what it can cover: rent, mortgage, utilities, home repairs, a security deposit, vehicle repair, vehicle payments or insurance, medical claims, health insurance premiums, hearing aids, dental work for a life-threatening condition, childcare, and tools or books for work or study.
  3. 3Be ready to show sustainability. The rule asks you to demonstrate that you are financially self-sufficient, or on a path to it, if the assistance is provided — unless you fall within the emergency or homelessness exceptions.
  4. 4Name your vendors in the application. Approved amounts go direct to the providers you choose, not to you.
  5. 5Apply through your County Veterans Service Officer, or call LinkVet on 1-888-546-5838 if you do not know who yours is.
  6. 6If you are a reserve member called from reserve status to extended federal active duty, note that your one grant is your one grant — taking it on active duty closes the door after discharge.
File with
Your County Veterans Service Officer
Documents you will need
dd214 · proof of income · vendor bills or statements
No renewal
There is no renewal. Once a payment is made for any approved item, no further grant can ever be made.
CorrectionOnce per lifetime is the headline, and it is easy to miss. Minn. R. 9055.0455 makes a person ineligible for any further grant as soon as payment is made for any approved item. Using it on a small bill spends the whole entitlement.
Worth knowingA surviving spouse has a route, but a conditional one: it opens only where the veteran did not receive the grant while living.
Known gapNo maximum grant is published. The rule leaves the amount to the commissioner, judged on circumstances, self-sufficiency and the money available. Ask your CVSO what awards have looked like recently rather than assuming a figure.

Sources

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.