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Subsistence Assistance — Rent, Utilities and a Cash Allowance While You Cannot Work

When a medical condition stops you working at your usual occupation for 30 days or more, the state will pay shelter, utilities and health insurance premiums and add a cash allowance — for up to six 30-day periods.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

When a medical condition stops you working at your usual occupation for 30 days or more, the state will pay shelter, utilities and health insurance premiums and add a cash allowance — for up to six 30-day periods.

What it's worth: Shelter paid at the actual rent or mortgage, plus a personal needs allowance from $532 to $2,944 a month

  • The monthly benefit award is calculated as shelter costs plus the personal needs amount, minus all earned and unearned income. Income reduces it dollar for dollar.
  • Where there is a lease or a mortgage, the shelter figure is the actual amount. Where there is neither, the schedule pays a flat figure running from $400 for a household of one to $1,300 for a household of ten.
  • The personal needs allowance runs from $532 for a household of one to $2,944 for a household of ten. A veteran with a spouse and no children is at $667; a veteran with one child and no spouse is at $1,392 — the same household size, a very different figure.
  • A weight of roughly $3,200 assumes a single veteran drawing shelter and personal needs across the six authorised periods at a modest rent. Your own figure is a calculation, not a rate.

Who is entitled to it

  • You are the veteran, or the surviving spouse of one.
  • 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. 1Start with the medical gate, not the money. Subsistence is for a veteran or surviving spouse who is disabled and prevented from working at their usual occupation for at least 30 days — or, for a surviving spouse, within one year of the veteran’s death without a disabling condition of their own.
  2. 2Get the Medical Report Form (MDVA-4) signed by your physician. The first assistance period starts from the date on that form, or from the application date where that is later and better for you.
  3. 3Apply through your County Veterans Service Officer. If your county office cannot help, MDVA’s Field Operations team will take it on directly.
  4. 4Check the asset limit before you file: $10,000 for a household of one, $18,000 for a household of two or more. Assets above the limit are an outright bar, not a reduction.
  5. 5Expect the award to be reduced by your income dollar for dollar — first against the personal needs cash, then against the shelter payment. If the calculation reaches $0 you are ineligible; if $1 remains, utilities and health insurance premiums can be paid as well.
  6. 6Six 30-day periods is the ordinary limit. Beyond that, the Director of Veterans Programs can authorise more case by case, on a Termination of Benefits form (MDVA-6) and a letter explaining the situation.
Form
Medical Report Form (MDVA-4), with the application
File with
Your County Veterans Service Officer
Documents you will need
dd214 · medical report mdva 4 · proof of income · lease or mortgage statement
Periodic recertification
Assistance is granted in 30-day periods. Each month you must contact your CVSO and report any change in income, medical condition or living situation before the next period is recommended.
CorrectionThis is not a hardship fund. The gate is medical: a condition preventing work at the usual occupation for at least 30 days. A veteran who is simply behind on rent is not eligible for subsistence and should be asked about the Veteran’s Relief Grant instead.
Worth knowingHousehold size is not the whole story on the personal needs figure. A veteran and spouse with no children draw $667; a veteran and one child with no spouse draw $1,392. Both are households of two.
Worth knowingA calculated award of $1 is worth having. Once anything at all remains on the monthly benefit award, MDVA can pay utilities and health insurance premiums that are due — so a marginal calculation is worth filing rather than abandoning.
Worth knowingSubsistence cannot top up General Assistance or the Minnesota Family Investment Program. Minn. R. 9055.0350 subp. 2 bars using it to supplement those, which matters to anyone already receiving them.
Known gapThe schedule of maximum monthly allowances is republished by the commissioner each January and incorporated by reference into Minn. R. 9055.0315. The figures above are the ones MDVA was publishing on 22 August 2026; check the current schedule before relying on a number.

Sources

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