Changing Lives Through Legal Access: The LSV-H Grant Program in Action
The VA has long prioritized ending homelessness among veterans and preventing the social conditions that put veterans in this position. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, Legal Services for Homeless Veterans and Veterans At-Risk for Homelessness (LSV-H) Grant Program (VA-VJP-LSV-H-2026), (June 1, 2025); U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, Secretary Shinseki Details Plan to End Homelessness for Veterans, https://news.va.gov/press-room/secretary-shinseki-details-plan-to-end-homelessness-for-veterans/#:~:text=Shinseki’s%20comprehensive%20plan%20to%20end,Veterans%20to%20local%20service%20providers (last updated Nov. 3, 2009). The VA’s Homeless Programs constitute the largest integrated network of homeless treatment and assistance services for veterans nationwide. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, LSV-H Grant Program, 2025. Veterans experiencing homelessness, or who are at risk of homelessness, often face difficult legal barriers that hinder their ability to find or even maintain stable housing. To address this challenge, the VA instituted the Legal Services for Veterans-Homeless (LSV-H) Grant Program in 2023 to provide much-needed legal assistance to this vulnerable population of veterans. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, Legal Services for Veterans Programs https://www.va.gov/homeless/lsv.asp, (last updated Nov. 19, 2025). At present, this program will continue through Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 and funds the provision of critical legal services, such as “civil legal services that support accessing government benefits, navigating family law, ensuring access to safe housing, and assisting with debt.” Id.
The LSV-H Grant Program currently provides grants up to $500,000 per eligible organization over a two-year grant cycle beginning October 1, 2025. Id. Grantees are public or non-profit private entities that provide legal services to eligible veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Id. The VA gives priority to grant applications from organizations that provide four or more qualifying legal services, are geographically distributed, and require grantees to dedicate at least 10% of funds to women veterans. Id. In this grant cycle, the VA has awarded funding to 92 eligible organizations. Id.
The Syracuse University College of Law’s Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic (VLC) has been an LSV-H grantee in all years awarded. Led by Professor Elizabeth Kubala, the VLC at Syracuse University has adopted a unique model for delivering legal services to these veterans, which not only promotes greater engagement with veteran clients but also provides students with opportunities to see their struggles firsthand. As part of enrolling in the VLC, student attorneys travel to a local VA-sponsored transitional housing program (the Altamont Program in Syracuse, NY) to meet their homeless veteran clients where they currently reside. Serving Those Who Served: The Betty and Michael D. Wohl Veterans Legal Clinic, Syracuse University Today (May 5, 2025) https://news.syr.edu/2025/05/05/serving-those-who-served-the-betty-and-michael-d-wohl-veterans-legal-clinic; U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, Syracuse VAMC and Altamont Corporation to Open Facility Providing Transitional Housing for Homeless Veterans, https://www.va.gov/syracuse-health-care/news-releases/syracuse-vamc-and-altamont-corporation-to-open-facility-providing-transitional-housing-for-homeless-veterans/ (last updated Nov. 4, 2022). There, they meet weekly with their veteran clients, provide on-site supervised legal services, and can directly refer veterans to on-site social workers for issues beyond their scope of practice.
As one of only three law school clinics that are current LSV-H grantees, the VLC at Syracuse University has secured over $212,000 in tax-free back pay for homeless veterans related to service-connected disability payments since the beginning of the Fall 2025 semester, including benefits whose future value totals over $7.3 million. U.S. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, FY26 LSV-H Grantee Referral Listing, https://www.va.gov/HOMELESS/lsv/LSV-H_Grantee_Referral-Information_508c.pdf (last updated Dec. 3, 2025). To date, for every dollar spent through the LSV-H grant, the VLC returns over 600% value to homeless veterans (in the form of the future value of disability benefits and backpay). This grant has had a lasting, meaningful impact on the lives of many veterans, including one veteran who said, “I don’t even have words for you. What you all have done is amazing. This will change my life.” In sum, the VA’s LSV-H program transforms legal aid into life-changing outcomes that bring it closer to the goal of ending veteran homelessness.