Compton: Low-income limits established for each county By George Compton Q. I applied for Veterans Affairs medical benefits and was placed in Priority Group 7, my son is also a veteran who lives in Los Angeles County and when he applied he was placed in Priority Group 8 and cannot be seen. We make about the same amount of money, why was he denied? A. Veterans are placed in Priority Group 8 when they have no service-connected disabilities and earn over the HUD low-income limit. The HUD low-income limit is established for each county. The low-income limit for a married veteran in Ventura County is $56,000 and the low-income limit for a married veteran in Los Angeles County $44,700. If a veteran earns one dollar over the limit, he or she is placed in Priority Group 8. Unfortunately there are thousands of veterans in this category but I expect the limits to increase by 10 percent this summer. Q. My daughter has been using the California Fee Waiver and she is now getting married. Will she still be eligible for the benefit? A. Marriage will not make her ineligible for the benefit. She must remain under the income limit and her husband’s income will not be counted. Have her contact this office and we will inform her of the documentation required. Q. In a recent column you discussed the veterans’ home having Wii consoles donated. My service organization would like to donate some games. Would that be appropriate? A. Certainly, thank you for your support. In that same column I mentioned that storage for donated items was limited. I would like to thank Kathy Webber and StorHouse Storage in Oxnard for stepping up and providing storage space while the home is in construction. The Ventura County Veterans Foundation accepts monetary donations. One of the first items to be purchased is a van to transport veterans to medical facilities. Checks should be made out to Vetfund VCVF and sent to VCVF at 4219 Transport St., Ventura, CA, 93003. — George Compton, a retired Army colonel, is the veterans service officer for the county Human Services Agency. Send your questions to Veterans Service Office, 1701 Pacific Ave., Suite 110, Oxnard, CA 93033, phone 385-6366, fax 385-6371, or e-mail george.compton@ventura.org. —— MilitaryConnection.com is a portal of all things military. We have thousands of pages and hundreds of databases of valuable information and resources. There is something for everyone. All of this is provided free to users. Additionally, we feature all types of Columns like this one to keep you informed. We will post your press releases, special events, newsletters, professional conferences and seminars, reunions, job fairs, and videos to help organizations get out the word. One of the areas of our focus is connecting candidates from the military community with outstanding government and civilian employers. We are well aware that candidates from the military community across the board have a work ethic second to none. They make highly valued employees. MilitaryConnection.com has a multitude of employment resources including a Directory of over 30,000 employers, Job Tips, Columns, our Job Board, Virtual Job Fair and much more. We understand the importance of education. Please check out our new Scholarship Directory featuring thousands of scholarships. When the next tour is back home, it’s on MilitaryConnection.com. |