Illinois Specially Adapted Housing Exemption for Veterans with Disabilities

Section 15-165 of the Property Tax Code exempts up to $100,000 of the assessed value of housing owned and used exclusively by a veteran with a disability, where federal funds were used to purchase or construct it because of that disability. The trigger is the federal money rather than a rating percentage. In practice that means the VA Specially Adapted Housing grant or the Special Home Adaptation grant, which VA awards for a narrow set of severe service-connected disabilities such as the loss of use of both lower extremities, blindness combined with the loss of use of an extremity, or certain severe burns. A veteran who received one of those grants should apply here whatever their combined rating reads. The exemption continues for as long as the veteran, the spouse, or the unmarried surviving spouse resides on the property. It does not end at the veteran's death, which matters a great deal to a surviving spouse living in a house that was adapted for the veteran's care. It applies to mobile homes as well as to conventional houses, which is not true of every Illinois exemption. This is a reduction in assessed value rather than a total exemption, so a home assessed above $100,000 keeps a taxable remainder. A veteran eligible for both this and the standard homestead exemption under section 15-169 should compare them with the county assessment office. At a 70% rating the standard exemption reaches the first $250,000 of EAV and is usually larger; below 70% this one is usually larger. They are not stacked. Apply through the chief county assessment office with the VA documentation of the grant.