Citation Nr: 18141372 Decision Date: 10/10/18 Archive Date: 10/10/18 DOCKET NO. 16-20 197 DATE: October 10, 2018 ORDER Entitlement to a special home adaptation grant is denied. FINDING OF FACT The Veteran has already been awarded eligibility to specially adapted housing assistance under 38 U.S.C. § 2101 and 38 C.F.R. § 3.809. CONCLUSION OF LAW The criteria for a special home adaptation grant have not been met. 38 U.S.C. § 2101; 38 C.F.R. § 3.809a. REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION The Veteran had active duty service from June 1966 to June 1970, and from February 1986 to August 1997. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a June 2015 rating decision by a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO). The Veteran requested a Board hearing before a Veterans Law Judge in his July 2016 substantive appeal, VA Form 9. The Veteran was scheduled for a Board hearing in July 2018 and was notified of that hearing in a May 2018 letter. The Veteran, however, failed to report for that hearing and has not requested to be rescheduled for that hearing nor has he provided good cause for failing to appear for his scheduled hearing at this time. Accordingly, the Board deems his request for a hearing withdrawn at this time and will proceed with adjudication of his claim at this time. See 38 C.F.R. § 20.1304. A veteran can qualify for a grant for necessary special home adaptations if he/she has a service-connected disability that results in blindness in both eyes with 20/200 visual acuity or less in the better eye with the use of a standard correcting lens or a limitation in fields of vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees; such a disability need not be permanent and total in nature. Additionally, a special home adaptation grant is available for a veteran that has a permanent and total disability which: (1) includes the anatomical loss or loss of use of both hands; (2) is due to deep partial thickness burns that have resulted in contracture(s) with limitation of motion of two or more extremities or of at least one extremity and the trunk; (3) is due to full thickness or subdermal burns that have resulted in contracture(s) of one or more extremities or the truck; or, (4) is due to residuals of an inhalation injury (including, but not limited to, pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)). 38 C.F.R. § 3.809a(b). However, generally, the Veteran will be provided one-time only assistance with a special home adaptation grant or specially adapted housing, although issuance of a special home adaptation grant before a veteran becomes eligible for specially adapted housing under 38 C.F.R. § 3.809 does not preclude a later grant for specially adapted housing. 38 C.F.R. § 3.809a(a). After review of the claims file, the Veteran was awarded eligibility for specially adapted housing in a December 2007 rating decision and he was informed of that decision in a December 2007 letter. He additionally met with and was interviewed by a VA Specially Adapted Housing Agent in December 2007, as noted in a December 2007 memorandum associated with the claims file. In light of this award of eligibility for specially adapted housing assistance, the Board must deny entitlement to a special home adaptation grant in this case, as the Veteran was already awarded the full award of benefits to which he is entitled in December 2007. The Board reflects that, as noted in 38 C.F.R. § 3.809a(a), the first element that must be satisfied in this case is that the Veteran is not eligible for specially adapted housing assistance or previously received assistance in acquiring specially adapted housing under 38 U.S.C. § 2101(a) and 38 C.F.R. § 3.809. Accordingly, entitlement to a special home adaptation grant must be denied in this case as a matter of law. See 38 U.S.C. § 2101; 38 C.F.R. § 3.809a; Sabonis v. Brown, 6 Vet. App. 426, 430 (1994). JAMES G. REINHART Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD M. Peters, Counsel