Legal Services for Homeless Veterans and Veterans At-Risk for Homelessness (LSV-H) Grant Program | VA VJP LSV H 2026

Opportunity Information: Apply for VA VJP LSV H 2026

The Legal Services for Homeless Veterans and Veterans At-Risk for Homelessness (LSV-H) Grant Program is a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs focused on preventing and ending Veteran homelessness by expanding access to civil legal help. It sits within VA's broader Homeless Programs portfolio, which is described as the largest integrated national network of homeless treatment and assistance services for Veterans. Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), VA intends to fund organizations that can deliver legal services that directly remove legal barriers to stable housing, safety, income, and health care for Veterans who are currently homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

The core purpose of LSV-H is straightforward: award grant funding to eligible public or nonprofit private entities so they can provide legal services to eligible Veterans experiencing homelessness or housing instability. The program is structured around needs identified in federal regulation, specifically 38 C.F.R. part 79, including the legal service categories outlined at 38 C.F.R. 79.20. In practice, that means the grants are meant to support direct legal representation and related legal assistance in the areas most likely to drive or prolong homelessness for Veterans, rather than general-purpose legal programming.

The NOFO highlights a wide set of allowable legal service areas. These include housing-related legal matters (often involving evictions, landlord-tenant disputes, habitability issues, or access to housing supports), family law issues that can affect stability (such as custody, child support, or other family court matters), and income support issues that may involve securing benefits or resolving problems that cut off income. It also includes criminal defense matters in contexts where unresolved criminal legal issues may be a barrier to housing or services, and legal help with protective orders and other matters related to domestic or intimate partner violence, recognizing that safety and legal protection are often immediate prerequisites to maintaining housing.

Beyond those categories, the opportunity explicitly includes legal services tied to access to health care, which can cover disputes or administrative problems that prevent a Veteran from receiving needed care. It also supports assistance with requests to upgrade a military discharge or dismissal, a key issue for some Veterans because discharge status can affect eligibility for benefits and services. The NOFO further emphasizes consumer law needs, listing common examples such as problems with financial services, debt collection, garnishments, usury, fraud, and financial exploitation, all of which can destabilize housing by draining income, damaging credit, or creating unmanageable legal and financial pressure. Employment law is also included, reflecting the role that job access, workplace disputes, and wrongful termination can play in housing instability.

In addition to the named practice areas, applicants are expected to align services with the "top 10 unmet legal needs" identified through VA's annual CHALENG process (Community Homelessness Assessment, Local Education and Networking Groups) for the relevant grant cycle. This is important because CHALENG is designed to capture local and national gaps in services experienced by homeless Veterans, and the NOFO points applicants toward meeting those documented, high-priority unmet needs rather than operating in isolation from VA's annual needs assessment.

Eligibility is limited to entities that meet the definition of a public or nonprofit private entity under 38 C.F.R. part 79.10. The NOFO also makes clear that being eligible on paper is not enough: applicants must demonstrate they have the technical, administrative, and resource capacity to carry out the program successfully. In other words, VA is looking for organizations that can manage federal grant requirements and deliver consistent legal services at scale, with appropriate staffing, systems, and oversight.

Key administrative details included in the source information are that the opportunity is listed under Funding Opportunity Number VA VJP LSV H 2026, categorized as discretionary funding, using a grant instrument, and aligned to the "Law, Justice and Legal Services" activity category under CFDA number 64.056. The opportunity was created on 2025-06-01, with an original closing date of 2025-07-04. The listed award ceiling is $500,000 per award. The posting references "ExpectedAwards:" but does not provide a number in the supplied text, so the exact number of awards is not specified here.

Overall, LSV-H is designed to fund targeted, high-impact legal help that removes the legal obstacles most closely tied to Veteran homelessness. The emphasis on housing, income, safety, health access, discharge upgrades, consumer protection, employment issues, and CHALENG-identified unmet needs signals that VA wants grantees to prioritize legal interventions that quickly stabilize a Veteran's living situation and reduce the likelihood of ongoing or future homelessness.

• The Legal Services for Veterans in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Legal Services for Homeless Veterans and Veterans At-Risk for Homelessness (LSV-H) Grant Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 64.056.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-06-01.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-07-04. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for VA VJP LSV H 2026

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