Le Figaro
Initially announced in 2018, the reform of the “
real-time
” calculation
of housing assistance had been postponed several times until January 2021. The causes of this delay?
Containment in 2020 but also many technical problems within the family allowance funds.
Read also: The reform of APL less profitable than expected
As of January 1, 2021, the calculation method for APL (Personalized Housing Allowance), ALS (Social Housing Allowance) and ALF (Family Housing Allowance) has changed to be based on real-time income.
A new aid simulator has been put online.
The goal?
Housing aid that is fairer and calculated in a contemporary manner with respect to household income and this on the basis of the last twelve months, whereas until now the APL were calculated on the N-2 income of the beneficiary.
The novelty is also that the income will be updated every three months to better match the evolution of the financial means of the beneficiary.
Thus, aid paid in January, February and March 2021 is calculated on income from December 2019 to November 2020 and aid from April, May and June will be calculated on income from March 2020 to February 2021.
6 million people affected by the reform of APL
The Minister Delegate to the Minister of Ecological Transition, in charge of Housing, gives as an example a single person who earned 1000 euros per month in 2019, then 1100 euros in 2020. The latter "
will see his APL decrease gradually and over a year from 77 to 44 euros monthly.
Conversely, an employee who experiences a period of partial unemployment from April to August 2020 will see his APL increase by around 30 euros per month
”.
The calculation method also changes for students, even employees, who will benefit from a flat-rate for taking their income into account for the calculation of their APL.
Those who have been employed for more than 2 years, in addition to their studies: the ministry assures us, their APL will not decrease with the new calculation: either it stagnates or it increases.
Those who have been employed since August 1, 2020, in addition to their studies: they will be impacted by the reform and may see their ALP gradually decrease.
The ministry gives the example of a student who receives 1100 euros per month for a rent of 450 euros.
Its APL will decrease to 309 euros in the first quarter and to 73 euros in the fourth.
The new method of calculation should impact 6 million people, or more than half of the beneficiaries.
Originally, the government was betting on an economy of around 1.2 billion euros (as a reminder, the budget devoted to various housing assistance was more than 13 billion euros in 2019, of which more than 8 billion euros. euros for APL) but the impact of the economic crisis and recourse to short-time working have meant that the government now expects between 500 and 700 million euros in savings by this new method of calculation.
Read also: Reform of the APL: the winners and losers revealed by the government
This reform is a very small step towards the establishment of a single allowance aimed at merging RSA, activity bonus and APL.
Ideally, the AAH (Disabled Adult Allowance) would also have been concerned, but this option was excluded during ongoing consultations.
Ultimately, this reform may make it possible to lower the costs of managing and distributing social assistance, to cap them and make them taxable.
Hence the score of 7/10.
Le Figaro
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