Colorado State Veterans Homes: Who Qualifies, Cost, How to Apply

If your dad is a Colorado veteran rated 70% or more and now needs a nursing home, a Colorado state veterans home that has a State home care agreement with VA can't charge your family for that care. Federal law treats VA's payment under that agreement for a 70%-rated veteran's nursing home care as payment in full, so ask the Colorado center whether it has one.1 For everyone else, Colorado posts its prices: the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) publishes a daily rate for each of its five Veterans Community Living Centers, and CDHS's posted rates (checked September 2026) for nursing care run from $144.28 for a veteran in a semi-private room at Homelake to $423.33 for a spouse or Gold Star parent in a private room at Fitzsimons.2

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What a Colorado State Veterans Home Is
• The Five Colorado Veterans Community Living Centers
• Who Can Live in a Colorado Veterans Community Living Center?
• What a Day Costs at Each Colorado Center
• When VA Pays the Whole Bill at a Colorado Center
• Medicaid and VA Pension at a Colorado Center
• How to Apply to a Colorado State Veterans Home, Step by Step
• If a Colorado Center Isn't the Right Fit
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

What a Colorado State Veterans Home Is

"State veterans home" is the federal program's name. In Colorado, the sign out front says "Veterans Community Living Center," and the operator is the Colorado Department of Human Services, not the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.3 Under the federal State Veterans Homes program, a state owns, operates and manages each home, while VA formally recognizes and certifies it, surveys it every year against VA standards, and may pay the state toward an eligible veteran's care. Each state sets its own eligibility and admission rules.2

That name matters when you search. VA runs its own nursing homes, and VA also calls those "Community Living Centers."4 A Colorado Veterans Community Living Center is the state's home, run by CDHS, and it's a different place with different rules. For how the program works in every state, see our national guide to State Veterans Homes.

The Five Colorado Veterans Community Living Centers

Across the five Colorado centers, CDHS offers long-term skilled nursing care, Medicare-certified short-term rehabilitation, specialized dementia care and end-of-life comfort care. Dementia care is offered at all five Colorado centers, but the secure memory-care units are at four of them.3

If your parent needs help with daily life but not round-the-clock nursing, Homelake is the one to look at: CDHS describes assisted living-like services in 48 renovated cottages at the Homelake center, and that care isn't available at the other four Colorado centers.3 For a parent with dementia who wanders, ask about the secure unit, since Homelake is the one Colorado center CDHS doesn't list with one.

Who Can Live in a Colorado Veterans Community Living Center?

CDHS says honorably discharged veterans, veterans' spouses or widows, and Gold Star parents are eligible for long-term care or short-term rehabilitation at a Colorado Veterans Community Living Center, and that medical criteria must also be met.3 A widow can apply in her own right, and so can a Gold Star parent.

A few details change the answer for real families:

• Discharge. The National Association of State Veterans Homes' Colorado entry describes the discharge test as a general or honorable discharge, and says veterans with one who need skilled nursing care get admission priority.3 If your father's DD-214 says "general," don't rule Colorado out. Ask.
• Residency. CDHS's Spanish Peaks page says Colorado residency is not a requirement for admission to the Spanish Peaks Veterans Community Living Center in Walsenburg.3 None of the sources we cite says whether the other four Colorado centers require it, so ask the center you're considering.
• Fitzsimons. CDHS's Fitzsimons admissions page says Fitzsimons accepts veterans based on clinical need and setting availability, and that there are "certain criteria for service-connected status, level of disability, and income," without listing them.3 Call Fitzsimons before you fill out anything, which is what CDHS asks families to do anyway.

What a Day Costs at Each Colorado Center

You don't have to call around for a price in Colorado. CDHS offers one comprehensive daily rate at its Veterans Community Living Centers, with no extra charges for medications, primary care physician services, oxygen, wheelchairs, other medical supplies, physical, speech and occupational therapy, or transportation to medical appointments.2 Here are the Colorado Veterans Community Living Center daily rates CDHS posts (checked September 2026):2

CDHS's pages don't say when these Colorado rates took effect, so ask the admissions office for the current figure and get it in writing.2

Why a spouse pays more than the veteran

CDHS says the daily rates for long-term care at its Colorado centers are lower for veterans than for spouses and Gold Star parents because a portion of the cost of care for veterans is covered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.2 That portion is VA's State home per diem. Under federal rules, VA pays the state for each eligible veteran in a State home at the lesser of one-half of the daily cost of the care or the basic per diem rate VA sets each fiscal year, and by statute those payments can never exceed half the cost of the veteran's care.1 VA doesn't pay for the care of a non-veteran in a State Veterans Home.2 So when Mom moves in beside Dad, her Colorado rate carries no VA share at all.

When VA Pays the Whole Bill at a Colorado Center

For some Colorado veterans, the posted veteran rate isn't the family's bill. Under 38 U.S.C. 1745(a) and 38 CFR 51.41, VA contracts with a State home, or enters a State home care agreement, to pay for nursing home care for:1

• a veteran who needs nursing home care for a VA adjudicated service-connected disability;
• a veteran with a service-connected disability rated at 70% or more who needs nursing home care;1
• a veteran rated for total disability based on individual unemployability (TDIU) who needs nursing home care, a group 38 CFR 51.41 adds.

Under 38 U.S.C. 1745 and 38 CFR 51.41, VA's payment to a State home for the nursing home care of a veteran in one of those three groups is payment in full, and under a State home care agreement the home may not charge any individual, insurer or other entity besides VA for the care VA paid for.1 CDHS's rates section doesn't address these veterans at all.2 So if your parent is in one of the three groups, ask the Colorado center's business office to confirm it has a State home care agreement with VA and how it will bill before you sign anything.

A disability claim still pending at admission isn't wasted. Under 38 CFR 51.41, when a veteran gets a retroactive service-connected rating that brings him within the payment-in-full rule, the State home can request VA payment for nursing home care back to the rating's retroactive effective date or February 2, 2013, whichever is later.1 So don't drop a pending claim.

Medicaid and VA Pension at a Colorado Center

For a long-term care stay, CDHS says its Colorado Veterans Community Living Centers accept Medicaid or Medicaid-eligible residents as well as private payment, and that center staff can help residents apply for both VA benefits and Medicaid.2 Colorado's Medicaid program is Health First Colorado; our guide to Colorado Medicaid for nursing home care explains how it pays.

CDHS also notes that additional VA benefits based on income and assets may be available for wartime veterans and their widows or spouses.2 That's VA pension, including Aid and Attendance; see how Aid and Attendance helps pay for a nursing home in Colorado.

One federal rule protects that pension. When a veteran with no spouse or child is on Medicaid in a nursing facility, federal law generally caps his VA pension at $90 a month, but the statute's definition of "nursing facility" for that cap, 38 U.S.C. 5503(d)(1)(B), excludes a State home for which VA pays per diem for nursing home care. So the $90 VA pension cap must not be applied to a Medicaid-covered veteran living in a State home for which VA makes per diem payments for nursing home care.5 No source cited here confirms whether VA makes that per diem payment at the Colorado Veterans Community Living Center you are considering, so ask the home directly, then confirm with VA or an accredited veterans service officer how the cap applies to your parent's own award.

How to Apply to a Colorado State Veterans Home, Step by Step

You apply to one Colorado center at a time, and CDHS posts a separate admission form for each of its five Veterans Community Living Centers. CDHS says its admission team will work with family members to gather the paperwork and to make sure the center can meet the prospective resident's medical needs.3

The steps above come from CDHS's Fitzsimons page and the National Association of State Veterans Homes' Colorado entry, which says Colorado application packets include pre-admission forms, a medical assessment, verification of military service and financial reports, and that each facility's admissions committee reviews applications and helps complete the forms.3 Your Colorado county veterans service office can also help with the VA side.

What to have ready

CDHS's Fitzsimons admissions page lists these documents for a Fitzsimons application. The other Colorado centers post their own lists, but this one shows what to expect:3

• The signed admission form and a signed authorization for release of information
• Proof of veteran status: a DD-214, or a Military Honorable Discharge and Enlistment Record
• Any power of attorney or medical power of attorney
• Photo ID and Social Security card
• The VA service-connected disability award letter, plus Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE cards
• Six months of bank statements, current annuity and asset statements, and proof of income
• For a spouse, a marriage certificate; for a Gold Star parent, the death certificate

Who to call at each Colorado center

Here are the addresses and admissions lines CDHS lists for each Colorado Veterans Community Living Center; the Fitzsimons main line is the one the National Association of State Veterans Homes lists. Staff and numbers change, so confirm when you call.3

If a Colorado Center Isn't the Right Fit

A Colorado center may have no bed, sit too far from family, or lack a secure unit where you need one. VA has two nursing home programs of its own. A VA Community Living Center is a VA-run nursing home, most often for short stays after a hospital discharge, and eligibility turns on clinical need, setting availability, service-connected status, disability level and income.4 A VA Community Nursing Home is a non-VA nursing home VA contracts with, and VA pays only if the veteran meets its service-connected, disability and income criteria.6 Our guide to VA nursing home care compares them, and VA long-term care copays explains what a veteran may owe there.

For every other kind of VA help in the state, start with VA benefits for senior care in Colorado, and for private nursing homes, see Colorado nursing homes.

Learn More

Find personalized help choosing and applying to a Colorado veterans home at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.