Veterans Alliance is privately owned and operated to serve veterans. We are not affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Veterans Alliance — Veterans Alliance
← All Rhode Island benefits
housingstate

First Placement in Elderly Public Housing for a Wartime-Disabled Veteran

Two sections of the general laws give a veteran disabled during a war or conflict first placement when space is available in public housing for the elderly. On top of that statewide floor, individual housing authorities run their own veteran preferences — and those vary sharply from one city to the next.

Verified August 22, 2026

What this benefit is

Two sections of the general laws give a veteran disabled during a war or conflict first placement when space is available in public housing for the elderly. On top of that statewide floor, individual housing authorities run their own veteran preferences — and those vary sharply from one city to the next.

What it's worth: First placement when space is available in public housing for the elderly, for a veteran disabled while serving in a war or conflict

  • The statewide preference requires that the veteran was disabled while serving in a war or conflict, and was discharged under other than dishonorable conditions.
  • All the ordinary eligibility criteria for the housing project still have to be met — the preference orders the queue, it does not bypass the rules.
  • Several housing authorities operate additional preferences of their own, including some restricted to a 100% disability rating and some limited to elderly or disabled developments.

Who is entitled to it

  • Your discharge characterisation is within the range these programmes run on.
  • You are in this state.

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. 1Apply to the housing authority of the city or town you want to live in, and ask explicitly for the veterans preference to be recorded on the application.
  2. 2Bring documentation that the disability arose during service in a war or conflict. That is the specific test in the statewide provision, and it is narrower than simply holding a service-connected rating.
  3. 3Ask that authority what its OWN veteran preference is, separately from the state one. Some authorities extend preference across their whole housing programme, some only in elderly or disabled developments, and at least one requires a 100% rating.
  4. 4Apply to more than one authority if you can live in more than one place. Preferences differ enough between cities that the same veteran can rank very differently across two waiting lists a few miles apart.
  5. 5Note that at least one authority operates a chronic-homelessness programme with units set aside, giving preference to disabled veterans within it. If that describes your situation, ask about it by name.
  6. 6Keep meeting the ordinary criteria. The preference decides who is placed first when space appears; it does not excuse an incomplete application.
Form
Housing authority application, flagged for veterans preference
File with
The housing authority for your city or town
Documents you will need
dd214 · va benefit summary letter
Periodic
Re-confirmed from time to time.
Worth knowingThe statewide provision is narrow — wartime disability, elderly housing, when space is available — but it sits underneath a patchwork of local preferences that are often broader. The state rule is the floor, not the ceiling, and the local rule is usually the one that decides your case.
CorrectionA preference is not an allocation. It orders you within a waiting list when a unit becomes free; it does not create a unit. A veteran told they have "priority" and then left waiting has not been misled — that is what the provision does.
Known gapThe state statute server refused connections this session, so the two sections were not read verbatim — only the veterans office's statement of them, which also cites a subsection of 45-25-18 in its supplementary materials. Which authorities currently operate which preference is also not centrally published; ask each authority directly.

Sources

Why only one source type: The state statute server refuses connections, so the two sections could not be read directly, and no housing authority publishes a central statement of the preference. The veterans office's own page is the single source: it states the sections, the wartime-disability test, the discharge test and the list of authorities running extra preferences.

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