HUD Must Exclude All Veteran Disability Payments from Income Calculations for Housing Assistance

The Home for the Brave Act of 2025 is short, punchy, and delivers a major change for veterans relying on housing assistance. Essentially, this bill tells the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to stop counting disability compensation and dependency/indemnity compensation received by veterans as income when calculating eligibility for housing programs. This isn't just a tweak; it’s a mandate that these specific federal benefits—those received under Chapter 11 (disability) or Chapter 13 (indemnity) of Title 38, U.S. Code—must be completely ignored when determining if a veteran’s family qualifies for assistance, how much benefit they get, and how much rent they have to pay.

Leveling the Housing Playing Field

For most housing assistance programs, your rent is calculated as a percentage of your total household income. If your income goes up, your rent goes up. For a disabled veteran, this system often creates a frustrating catch-22: the federal government provides disability compensation to help offset service-related injuries, but that very compensation is then counted as income by HUD, potentially pushing them out of eligibility or significantly raising their rent burden. This bill aims to fix that.

Think about a veteran receiving $1,500 a month in disability payments. Under the current system, that $1,500 is added to their total household income, which could mean the difference between qualifying for a Section 8 voucher or not. If they do qualify, that extra income increases their calculated rent payment. Under the Home for the Brave Act, that $1,500 is simply disregarded. This means more veterans who need help will qualify for programs, and those already receiving assistance will see their calculated rent drop, freeing up critical funds for groceries, utilities, or childcare.

The Real-World Impact on Your Wallet

This change directly targets housing stability for disabled veterans. For a working-class family where a spouse receives disability compensation, this bill dramatically improves their financial footing. Instead of a veteran’s disability check being eaten up by a higher rent payment—a payment calculated based on income intended to compensate for a disability—that money can now truly serve its purpose. The bill is clear that this exclusion applies to three specific factors: eligibility, the amount of assistance, and the amount of rent paid by the household. This clarity (Section 2) leaves little room for bureaucratic interpretation, which is a huge win for straightforward implementation.

While the bill is highly beneficial, the administrative challenge lies with HUD staff who must correctly identify and process these specific types of veteran benefits for exclusion. The system needs to be updated quickly to ensure every penny of Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 compensation is correctly ignored, preventing miscalculations that could still lead to veterans being overcharged for rent or incorrectly denied assistance. Overall, however, this legislation is a straightforward, positive move designed to make sure the federal support provided to disabled veterans actually helps them stay housed and secure.