We just completed the SAH grant process. The house is finally completed. From beginning to end it took 25 months. About 3 months of the delay was due to our HOA. We had to get permission to go over the allotted impervious square footage. Eventually we had to go to the county environmental something or other to get approval for the HOA to "give" us the impervious square footage.
We also had problems with the first builder we were going to use. The dude took forever to return phone calls. We were using him because the VA housing agent had already done some projects with him and seemed to feel he knew what he was doing. He probably did know what he was doing but after months of communication issues we fired him. We fired him before he broke ground. In a rush we had to find another contractor which we did and he worked out okay. I guess we lost maybe 5 months with the first contractor.
I do feel the VA housing agent dragged his feet at times yet I also know the housing agents have a lot of vets they are working with. Some of their responsibilities include VA mortgage type of stuff. They have too much work to do, all the time, it's a problem, shouldn't be our problem but it is, a person can only do some much work in an 8 hour day, and that is frustrating when you need your house accessible yesterday.
From what I can tell each region's VA SAH grant process runs a little bit differently. Veterans with ALS files usually get top priority. In our area the final construction plans are sent to Georgia for approval. My husband's was approved in days, and check was issued and received by the housing agent within weeks of submission. The check goes into a special bank account that only the housing agent has access to. In our case, and it could be different with other agents, the contractor was issued 5 checks over the life of the project. We also took out the mortgage insurance. The premiums come out of the monthly benefit. We chose to have the insurance in place when the check was deposited in the escrow account.
The mortgage insurance is available only for those who have used, or are using, the SAH grant and I believe the veteran must be less than 69 years old but I'd have to double check that. The mortgage is paid off directly when the vet dies.
Your mom, because she is your dad's caregiver, can elect to be in the VA caregiver program. This program opens up the opportunity for her to receive support from other caregivers and will introduce her to the VA social workers. It's a good program. I am one of the mentors specifically for caregivers of veterans with ALS and have found it to be rewarding for my mentees and myself.
