Leftover proceeds from an FHA-insured HECM can pay ramps, walk-in showers, and other accessibility work after leftover cash exists. HUD does not require that remodel, and it is not a grant. Jay Zayer, licensed in California and Arizona as a CRMP, separates FHA-required repairs from borrower-chosen modifications before anyone treats a contractor bid as a closing condition.
Walk through the arithmetic: required repairs, if any, are funded first under 24 CFR 206.47. Optional accessibility work is paid later from leftover principal limit. Mixing those two piles is how families think HUD “owes them a shower.”
The required-repair rules live on a house that needs repairs. This page is the optional-access fork.
How is optional accessibility work different from FHA-required repairs?
24 CFR 206.47 and FHA Minimum Property Standards cover safety, soundness, and sanitation the roster appraiser lists. A failed roof, broken steps, missing heat where the climate requires it, or lead-paint stabilization on an older home can be required. A walk-in shower you want because stairs are getting hard is usually not on that list. HUD does not publish a “aging-in-place kitchen” mandate.
If remaining required repairs are small enough, the file can close before they are finished. 24 CFR 206.47 allows closing before completion when remaining required work is not more than 15% of maximum claim amount. A repair set-aside then holds 150% of the estimated required cost plus an administration fee. That holdback is for HUD-required items. It is not a slush fund for a ramp HUD did not require.
Optional accessibility work does not get that set-aside unless the appraiser actually listed the item as required. Most ramps and showers are leftover-cash projects after endorsement. First-year disbursement limits in 24 CFR 206.25 still apply to those voluntary draws.
Occupancy is why this conversation exists. 24 CFR 206.39 requires the borrower to occupy as a principal residence. Modifications that help you stay home support that rule. Modifications on a vacant house being prepped for heirs do not.
Counseling under 24 CFR 206.41 still applies. California Civil Code section 1923.2(k) still adds a seven-day wait. A contractor who wants to skip counseling is a warning, not a shortcut.
What leftover cash actually remains after a repair set-aside?
Start with principal limit. Subtract existing liens, 2.00% initial MIP of claim amount (Mortgagee Letter 2017-12), origination under 24 CFR 206.31, third-party fees, any LESA, and any required-repair set-aside. What remains can pay a ramp. If the set-aside and the liens consume the limit, the accessibility bid has no HECM source.
On a $400,000 Yuma house, 15% of claim amount is $60,000. That figure is the close-before-complete cap for remaining required repairs. It is not a budget HUD gives you for a bathroom. A $12,000 required-repair estimate can produce an $18,000 set-aside at 150%, plus the admin fee. That $18,000 is reserved. It is not leftover shower money.
Model leftover cash after required holdbacks before you sign a remodel contract. Maximum claim amount for 2026 case numbers remains the lesser of value and $1,249,125 (ML 2025-22). The working expected-rate assumption for this page is 7.000% on 22 September 2026. This page will not publish a current principal-limit factor as your number.
A Walnut Creek contrast: a 69-year-old who occupies, needs a first-floor shower, and has leftover capacity after a small required list. That can be a fit. The same bid on a house the owner has already left, with an adult child managing contractors, is an occupancy problem first.
Optional work can still be a good leftover use. See reverse mortgage home repairs for the broader repair conversation. Accessibility is one lawful personal purpose. It is not a HUD benefit check.
Does a ramp or walk-in shower change occupancy rules?
No. Completing a ramp does not relax 24 CFR 206.39. You still occupy as a principal residence. A health-care stay longer than twelve consecutive months can still make the loan due under 24 CFR 206.27(c)(2)(ii) when you are the last borrower. A beautiful accessible bathroom does not create a facility exception.
Mortgagee Letter 2023-23 still requires the annual occupancy certification and notice when you are gone more than two months. The contractor is not the person who answers that letter.
What can go wrong: the remodel makes the house unlivable for months, you stay elsewhere, and occupancy documentation gets thin. Another failure: the bid is so large it eats the principal limit, including MIP, and you still cannot finish the work HUD actually required. Required items win. Optional tile does not.
A follow-up: if a city grant or a veterans’ modification program will pay the ramp, should you still originate a HECM only to “have extra”? Maybe not. A HECM adds 2.00% initial MIP and ongoing 0.50% annual MIP on the drawn balance. Stacking a loan on top of a grant you already qualify for is a cost conversation, not a HUD upgrade.
Who should not originate a HECM just to remodel for someone else?
This product does not help a vacant house being prepped for heirs. Occupancy is the borrower’s. A HECM on an empty property the children hope to inherit is the wrong product. It does not help when required repairs and liens are so large they eat the principal limit, leaving no leftover cash for the ramp you came to build.
Jay will say to use a grant, to sell, or to complete required work first. He will not treat a contractor’s “HUD will pay for it” script as a repair set-aside.
Another failure: the originator and the remodeler are the same pitch. Independent counseling exists so that bundle can be refused. You pick the counselor from the required list. The contractor does not.
Bring the appraiser’s required list, the accessibility bid as a separate stack, and a plan for who lives in the house during the work. I work with multiple lenders. I still turn away files that treat leftover cash as a grant.
A HECM is FHA-insured. It is not a remodeling subsidy. Optional access work is a leftover-cash decision after 24 CFR 206.47 is satisfied.