The number of housing benefit applications in the Starnberg district has almost doubled in the past two years. A reform came into force in Germany at the beginning of 2023, which means that around three times more households across Germany are entitled to housing benefit.
The Starnberger Merkur's specialist advice center for preventing homelessness says that the usually complicated official language is a hurdle for many people to fill out. The district office says that relatively few applications are approved because applicants often do not submit the required documents on time or at all.