Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission: Emergency Financial Assistance

The Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission is the county's commission under Revised Code chapter 5901; see the Ohio entry on county veterans service commissions. Its office is on the fourth floor of the East Medical Plaza, 627 Edwin C. Moses Boulevard, Dayton (937-225-4801, [email protected]), and claims help, rides to medical appointments and dental vouchers come from the same office. What it pays. The commission groups its help into three kinds: necessities of life, transportation and indigent burial. In practice that is rent and mortgage, utilities, food vouchers and emergency repairs, paid to the landlord, lender, utility or store. Its 2025 annual report counts 354 approved applications, for 269 veterans and their families, and $552,391 in emergency relief. The commission's own limits. A lifetime limit of $25,000 of assistance a person, set by its Resolution 17-032202. A landlord must be registered with the County Auditor as a rental owner, and no rent is paid to a relative. A mortgage must be in the applicant's name and not in foreclosure or forbearance. A utility account must be in the applicant's name, and the commission may require the applicant to enrol in the Percentage of Income Payment Plan with AES or CenterPoint first. Food comes as Kroger vouchers; the commission bars anyone who buys alcohol with one, under a sanction that can be appealed to the commission after a year. How to apply. Gather everything on the packet's checklist, then call for an appointment: every DD-214, proof of Montgomery County residence for the last 90 days, an Ohio photo ID or passport, marriage, divorce, death and minor children's birth certificates, 60 days of income for everyone in the home, and 60 days of daily activity on every bank and payment-app account. The commission investigates the household's finances and decides on need; it is not a pension or an entitlement. A refusal can be appealed in person at the commission's public meeting, on the second Wednesday of each month at 10 a.m. in the office. Who qualifies. The statute's test, in Revised Code 5901.08 and 5901.01(B), is a veteran discharged under honorable conditions whose active duty was for reasons other than training (or who was disabled on training duty with a recognised service connection), an active-duty member, or the spouse, surviving spouse, dependent parent, minor child or ward of either, resident three months. The commission's packet asks for an honorable or general discharge, which matches. Its page, though, lists "a spouse, widow/widower, or dependent parent who is drawing VA compensation" and children "eligible to draw VA benefits". Section 5901.08 asks neither the family member nor the veteran for any VA award, so a surviving spouse or dependent parent with no VA payment is eligible and should cite the section if turned away. The FAQ also accepts any government photo ID, including the county veteran ID card, where the packet asks for an Ohio ID or passport. Legal help. The commission's veterans legal counsel post is vacant; its page says the programme should resume late in 2026, and meanwhile it refers veterans to Legal Aid.