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Subsistence Aid — Up to $3,000 a Year When Illness or Injury Stops the Income

Where illness, injury or a natural disaster has cut a veteran’s income and other sources of aid are exhausted, WDVA pays subsistence aid for up to three 30-day periods — capped at $3,000 in any 12 months, and filed within a year of the loss.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: Up to $3,000 in any 12 months, in 30-day awards to a maximum of 90 days

WDVA states grants are awarded for any 30-day period up to a maximum of three months, and that awards cannot exceed $3,000 during any consecutive 12-month period.
The $7,500 programme lifetime limit is shared with the Health Care Aid Grant.
The published figures are ceilings. What is actually awarded turns on the department’s assessment of the loss, which is not published.

Who is entitled to it

You are the veteran, or a family member of one.
Your home is in Wisconsin.

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

Deadline: No later than 12 months after the verified loss of income

1Date the loss of income before you do anything else. WDVA states the application must reach the department no later than 12 months following the verified loss of income, and that clock is the most common reason a good claim fails.
2Check the trigger fits. The grant is written around a loss of income due to illness, injury or natural disaster — not around a low income in general.
3Show that other sources of aid have been exhausted. That is stated as a condition, not as a preference.
4File through your county or tribal veterans service officer, which is the submission route WDVA names.
5Plan for 90 days, not for a year. Awards run in 30-day periods to a maximum of three months.
6If the household is that of an activated or deployed service member rather than a veteran, ask about Aid to Military Families instead — WDVA runs it for the qualified spouse and dependent children of an activated or deployed member who have lost income because of the activation and hit an economic emergency, and for the unremarried surviving spouse and dependent children of a member who died in the line of duty.
7For the military families route, the economic emergency list WDVA publishes is specific: failure of the sole means of transportation, failure of a stove or refrigerator or of heating, electrical or plumbing systems, a medical emergency, or severe damage to the primary residence from a natural disaster.

Form: Application for the Subsistence Aid Grant
File with: Your county or tribal veterans service office, which submits it to WDVA
Documents you will need: dd214
Periodic: Awards run in 30-day blocks to a maximum of 90 days, and the $3,000 ceiling runs on a rolling 12-month window.

CorrectionThe 12-month deadline runs from the loss of income, not from the day you decide to ask. A veteran who has been managing for 18 months on savings has already missed it.

Worth knowingFor the military families route WDVA states that federal poverty guidelines do not apply, although a loss of income due to the deployment or activation must be demonstrated. That is a different test from the veteran’s own route and worth naming when you apply.

Known gapWDVA publishes the caps and the deadline but not the income test, the asset test or the discharge standard, and Wisconsin’s statute site is unreachable from here. Ask the county or tribal veterans service officer for the current criteria before budgeting on a figure.

Sources

authority · published policyWDVA — Subsistence Aid / Health Care Aid Grants
operating · published policyWDVA — Mental Health and Recovery services index

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