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Veterans Innovations Program — Emergency Money for the Post-9/11 Cohort

Grant assistance for a Washington veteran who served on or after 11 September 2001 and is in financial hardship: eviction and foreclosure prevention, utility shut-off, transportation, and support through a transition into work or education.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Grant assistance for a Washington veteran who served on or after 11 September 2001 and is in financial hardship: eviction and foreclosure prevention, utility shut-off, transportation, and support through a transition into work or education.

What it's worth: A grant sized to the emergency, within the funding available

  • The department publishes no maximum grant amount and no coverage limit for this programme, so no figure is quoted here.
  • The department states the request must fall within available grant funding, which makes timing part of the answer.
  • The department also requires a "discernable positive outcome" from the assistance — this is not a standing hardship payment but a one-off intended to change the trajectory.

Who is entitled to it

  • The programme assists the veteran who served.
  • Your discharge is under honorable conditions.
  • Your home is in Washington.

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. 1Download the VIP application from the department’s programme page and assemble the supporting documentation before you send it — an incomplete application is the commonest delay.
  2. 2Be specific about the outcome. The department asks you to demonstrate a discernable positive outcome from the assistance, so name the eviction, the shut-off notice or the job start that the money prevents or enables.
  3. 3Email the completed application to wdvavip@dva.wa.gov, or call 1-800-562-2308 if you need help assembling it.
  4. 4Do not rule yourself out on a less-than-honorable discharge given solely because of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression — the department names that case as eligible.
  5. 5If you already receive federal VA monetary benefits, say so: that is an alternative route through the discharge condition.
  6. 6Ask about the county veterans assistance fund at the same time. The two are separate pots and a veteran turned down for one may still be inside the other.
Form
VIP application form
File with
Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs
Documents you will need
dd214
Confirm with the office
We have not verified the renewal behaviour.
CorrectionThe discharge condition has three doors, not one. An honorable-conditions discharge is only the first; eligibility for federal VA monetary benefits is the second; and a less-than-honorable discharge given solely because of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression is the third.
Known gapThe department publishes no maximum award for this programme. Ask what the current ceiling is before planning around it, because the answer moves with the appropriation.
Worth knowingThe cut-off is service on or after 11 September 2001, not deployment. A member who served in that window without deploying is not excluded by the date test.

Sources

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