From St. Johns and DeWitt to Fowler, Ovid, Elsie and Maple Rapids, Clinton County is made up of small towns and farmsteads spread across 574 square miles of mostly flat central Michigan farmland. The land may be level, but the houses usually are not. Split-level homes, ranch-style homes with basements, duplexes and older single-family homes all put stairs between people and the rooms they use every day.
Most of those homes are owned by the people living in them. Of the county's 32,821 housing units, 77.5% are owner-occupied, so families here can usually decide on a stair lift themselves. This page walks through which kind of lift fits the homes in Bath, Wacousta, Westphalia, Lake Victoria and the rest of the county, and which local and federal programs may help pay for one.
Ranch-style homes often have one straight flight down to the basement, where the laundry or a family room sits. A straight stair lift is usually the simplest fit there. It mounts to the stair treads, not the wall, and folds up so others can still use the stairs.
Split-level homes are different. They tend to have several short flights with landings in between, so getting from the garage level to the bedrooms can mean more than one set of steps. Depending on the layout, that can call for a curved lift built to follow the turns, or a separate straight lift on each flight.
Older single-family homes in towns like St. Johns and Ovid sometimes have narrow or turning staircases. We measure the width, the turns and any landings before recommending a straight or curved model, because the stairs decide the lift, not the other way around.
Flat ground does not mean a level entry. Many farmhouses and town homes still have a set of porch or deck steps to reach the front door. An outdoor stair lift is built to handle Michigan weather, and a platform lift can work where someone needs to stay in a wheelchair.
Duplexes and walk-up apartments raise one extra question: who owns the stairs. If the stairs belong to a landlord, the owner needs to agree before anything is installed. When we visit, we can explain what the install involves so you can bring that to the conversation.
About 18.8% of Clinton County residents are 65 or older, and with most homes owner-occupied, many of them are staying in the multi-level houses they have lived in for years. A stair lift is often the step that lets someone keep using the whole house instead of closing off a floor.
The county sits within the Lansing-East Lansing, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area, so rural residents are within reasonable reach of Lansing-area medical and mobility-equipment providers. That helps when a doctor's note or therapy evaluation is part of a funding application.
Two programs on our list explicitly name stair lifts: the MI Choice Medicaid Waiver and USDA Section 504 repair loans and grants. Both look at income and assets, so the first call to make depends on your household's situation and whether your address counts as rural for USDA.
For MI Choice, the local contact is the Tri-County Office on Aging at (517) 887-1440, located at 5303 S. Cedar Street, Suite 1, Lansing 48911. Veterans should be aware that the VA HISA grant excludes stair glides, but Veteran's Services in St. Johns at (989) 224-5100, 100 E. State Street, can help sort out other VA options.
Statewide, it may also be worth asking about the MSHDA Property Improvement Program (PIP) and MI Coordinated Health (formerly MI Health Link). Each program entry below says exactly what its source states about stair lifts.
A Medicaid home and community-based services waiver for Michigan residents who meet nursing-facility level of care and Medicaid income and asset limits; it explicitly lists stair lifts as a covered home modification, with an individualized budget and no fixed dollar cap. In Clinton County it is run through the Tri-County Office on Aging at (517) 887-1440, and a waitlist may apply.
The Area Agency on Aging for Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties offers care management and case coordination for older adults and caregivers; its page does not mention stair lifts, so stair lift help would come through its MI Choice case management. Call (517) 887-1440.
Federal grants up to $10,000 for homeowners 62 and older, and 1% loans up to $40,000 over 20 years, for very-low-income owners in USDA-eligible rural areas; stair lifts for multi-story homes are explicitly listed. Rural eligibility must be confirmed for each address using USDA's eligibility mapping tool.
A VA grant with a lifetime maximum of $6,800 or $2,000, depending on disability status, for home changes needed for treatment or access. It does not cover stair lifts, since the VA excludes stair glides and porch lifts.
Up to $126,526 (FY2026) for veterans with certain severe service-connected disabilities to buy, build or modify a permanent home. The source does not list stair lifts specifically.
Up to $25,350 (FY2026) for veterans with qualifying disabilities, such as loss of use of both hands or certain breathing injuries, where the veteran or a family member owns the home. Stair lifts are not listed in the source; a related Temporary Residence Adaptation grant covers a family member's home where the veteran is temporarily living.
A nonprofit providing critical home repairs and accessibility modifications for low-income homeowners in Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties; stair lifts are not mentioned in its source. Call (517) 455-5068.
A center for independent living serving people with disabilities in Clinton, Eaton, Ingham and Shiawassee counties with advocacy, peer support and information and referral; it does not list a stair lift or home modification fund. Call (517) 999-2760 for help finding other funding.
Older adults
5303 S. Cedar Street, Suite 1, Lansing, 48911
Veterans
100 E. State Street, St. Johns, 48879
Usually, yes. Split-level homes often have short flights with landings, so the answer may be a curved lift that follows the turns or a straight lift on each flight. We measure the stairs first and recommend from there.
The MI Choice Medicaid Waiver explicitly lists stair lifts as a covered home modification for people who meet nursing-facility level of care and Medicaid income and asset limits. In Clinton County, start with the Tri-County Office on Aging at (517) 887-1440. A waitlist may apply.
Possibly. The program serves USDA-eligible rural areas with populations under 35,000, and Clinton County has both rural and more urban areas near St. Johns and the Lansing fringe. Eligibility is checked address by address on USDA's eligibility mapping tool.
USDA Section 504 grants require the homeowner to be 62 or older, but the program's loans are open at any age if income limits are met. MI Choice is based on care needs and Medicaid eligibility rather than a set age.
Not through the HISA grant, which specifically excludes stair glides. The SAH and SHA grants do not list stair lifts in their sources. Veteran's Services in St. Johns, at (989) 224-5100, can walk through which VA benefits apply.
Yes, outdoor stair lifts are built for exterior steps, and a platform lift is an option for someone who uses a wheelchair. We look at the step count, the landing at the top and how the steps are built before suggesting one.
Tell us about the stairs in your home and we will explain which lift fits, what it costs and how installation works.
