Claim Raven explanation
What this means
Specially adapted housing eligibility requires compensation or line-of-duty status for one of the listed severe permanent disabilities, such as specified loss of use, blindness, burn contractures, or qualifying ALS.
Occasional locomotion without a device does not automatically defeat a qualifying preclusion-of-locomotion route. The question is whether a listed device is regularly and constantly necessary as the normal mode of locomotion.
How this helps your claim
Several routes require permanent and total disability plus functional loss. “Preclude locomotion” means regular and constant use of a wheelchair, braces, crutches, or canes as the normal way of moving, even if occasional movement by another method remains possible. Service-connected ALS rated 100 percent satisfies the disability paragraph.
What to check in your records
Identify the exact eligibility category and connect the rating, medical findings, and real locomotion or upper-extremity function to its words.
- Keep the rating decision showing service connection, compensation entitlement, permanence, and totality where required.
- Gather examination findings on loss of use, vision, balance, propulsion, upper-extremity function, burns, or ALS.
- Document the regular mobility devices used at home and elsewhere, including frequency and why they are necessary.
Match function to one listed route
Avoid describing only diagnoses. Explain the actual loss of use, visual limitation, balance or propulsion problem, or burn contracture and how it affects movement or arm use.
If the evidence mentions several devices, note which is normally used, in what settings, and why. This gives the regulatory phrase “regular and constant use” a factual record.
Does taking a few steps without a cane automatically defeat eligibility?
No. The definition allows occasional locomotion by other methods. The issue is whether braces, crutches, canes, or a wheelchair are regularly and constantly required as the normal mode of locomotion.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 3.809
eCFR snapshot: 2026-09-17. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 3.809 Specially adapted housing under 38 U.S.C. 2101(a)(2)(A)(i).
In order for a certificate of eligibility for assistance in acquiring specially adapted housing under 38 U.S.C. 2101(a)(2)(A)(i) or 2101A(a) to be extended to a veteran or a member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty, the following requirements must be met:
(a) General. A member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty must have a disability that was incurred or aggravated in line of duty in active military, naval, air, or space service and meets the requirements described in paragraph (b) of this section. A veteran must be entitled to compensation under chapter 11 of title 38, United States Code, for a service-connected disability that meets the requirements described in paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) Disability. The disability must be rated as one of the following:
(1) A permanent and total disability due to the loss or loss of use of both lower extremities, such as to preclude locomotion without the aid of braces, crutches, canes, or a wheelchair.
(2) A permanent disability due to blindness in both eyes, having central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a standard correcting lens. For the purposes of this paragraph (b)(2), an eye with a limitation in the fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees shall be considered as having a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less.
(3) A permanent and total disability due to the loss or loss of use of one lower extremity together with residuals of organic disease or injury which so affect the functions of balance or propulsion as to preclude locomotion without the aid of braces, crutches, canes, or a wheelchair.
(4) A permanent and total disability due to the loss or loss of use of one lower extremity together with the loss or loss of use of one upper extremity which so affect the functions of balance or propulsion as to preclude locomotion without the aid of braces, crutches, canes, or a wheelchair.
(5) A permanent and total disability due to the loss or loss of use of both upper extremities such as to preclude use of the arms at or above the elbow.
(6) A permanent and total disability due to full thickness or subdermal burns that have resulted in contractures with limitation of motion of two or more extremities or of at least one extremity and the trunk.
(c) Preclude locomotion. This term means the necessity for regular and constant use of a wheelchair, braces, crutches or canes as a normal mode of locomotion although occasional locomotion by other methods may be possible.
(d) Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. VA considers § 3.809(b) satisfied if the veteran or member of the Armed Forces serving on active duty has service-connected amyotrophic lateral sclerosis rated 100 percent disabling under 38 CFR 4.124a, diagnostic code 8017.
(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a), 1151(c)(1), 2101, 2101A)
Cross Reference: Assistance to certain disabled veterans in acquiring specially adapted housing. See §§ 36.4400 through 36.4410 of this chapter.
[78 FR 72576, Dec. 3, 2013, as amended at 86 FR 56215, Oct. 8, 2021; 87 FR 26126, May 3, 2022]
Related references
- 38 CFR § 3.809a: Eligibility for a special home adaptation grant
- 38 CFR § 3.808: VA automobile and adaptive-equipment eligibility
- 38 USC § 2101: Who may qualify for specially adapted housing assistance
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