Hartz IV recipients need a new refrigerator - and are boldly rejected by the job center
Created: 01/26/2022, 14:32
By: Patricia Huber
Household appliances such as refrigerators are expensive.
Hartz IV recipients can hardly bear the cost of a new purchase.
© Florian Schuh/dpa
When a Hartz IV recipient applies to the job center for a loan for a new refrigerator, he only receives advice instead of money.
But this one causes horror.
Berlin – There are frequent disagreements* between the job center and Hartz IV* recipients.
This is often also due to the fact that a number of services involve an enormous amount of bureaucracy.
So additional services require a lot of paperwork.
But what happens in emergency situations when there is no time for applications and long waiting times?
An extreme case now shows that the job center then resorts to unusual “tips”.
Authorities advice: Save for a new refrigerator
Helena Steinhaus is the founder of the association Sanctions-free eV, which supports sanctioned Hartz IV recipients and thus, according to information on its own website, "makes the job center's strongest means of pressure ineffective".
On Twitter she shared the case of a Hartz IV recipient whose refrigerator broke.
"The job center responds to a request for an interest-free loan for a refrigerator that 'due to the weather conditions' food is stored outside and savings* can be made from the standard rate in the meantime," writes Steinhaus in her tweet.
And that is frightening.
A user commented: "Don't they have a brain?
Storing food outside is risky, especially when temperatures are constantly fluctuating.
It also attracts rats and other animals.
If you don't have a balcony, should you hang a shopping bag out of the window?” Others note that it is almost impossible to save anything from the already tight standard rate* of 449 euros.
Hartz IV: Loans are possible in emergencies - but there is a catch
Hatz IV recipients actually have the option of applying for a loan in emergencies that they cannot solve themselves. So if you need a new refrigerator, as in this case, you have to submit proof of price and a bank statement and write a written loan application. It must be clear from this that it is an absolute emergency, explains
HartzIV.org.
But there is still one problem: The clerk in charge then has six months to process the case – despite an emergency.
Fortunately, in the case that Helena Steinhaus described, a solution has already been found.
The non-profit organization "One Less Worries" has come forward and offered help.
It supports people affected by poverty with donations in kind.
(ph)
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