Housing benefit is to be increased: New details on the “major housing benefit reform”

Created: 07/26/2022, 17:09

By: Sarah Neumeyer

According to plans by the SPD, the housing allowance is to be increased.

© Jens Kalaene/dpa

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced a "major housing benefit reform".

Now further details are known.

Berlin – In order to relieve low-income citizens in view of the high energy prices, the federal government is planning a “major housing benefit reform”.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced this on Friday (July 22nd). 

The reform is intended to expand the group of eligible households “early next year” and “integrate a flat-rate heating fee, so to speak, permanently”.

Pensioners in particular, who make up a large part of the housing benefit recipients, should benefit.

Details of the planned changes initially remained open.

Housing benefit is to increase from 2023: increase in rates and new calculation methods

Now the SPD parliamentary group has commented on the housing benefit reform.

According to the will of the parliamentary group, the housing benefit should increase in the coming year through an earlier increase in rates and through new calculation methods.

It is about "early dynamization" and the integration of a climate and heating cost component, said the housing policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Bernhard Daldrup, of the German Press Agency.

Specifically, according to Daldrup, the SPD parliamentary group proposes an “extraordinary housing allowance adjustment”.

The biennial adjustment of the service to the general rent and consumer price development should take place in 2023 instead of 2024.

Housing benefit: the group of beneficiaries is to be expanded

The household size, income and rent are currently used to calculate whether and how much housing benefit is granted.

The corresponding formula is laid down in the Housing Allowance Act.

It is much easier to calculate with the housing benefit calculator provided by the Federal Ministry of Building.

People who already receive social benefits such as Hartz 4 cannot apply for housing benefit.

Because with them, accommodation costs are already included in these services.

Owners who use their apartment themselves can also apply for help.

You can get the housing subsidy if you cannot bear running costs because your income is too low.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, 618,165 households received housing benefit in 2020.

That was 1.5 percent of all private households in Germany that are their main residence.

The aim of the reform is to expand the circle of those entitled to claim.

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Housing benefit reform: SPD wants a flat-rate heating supplement per square meter of living space

According to plans by the SPD parliamentary group, those entitled to housing benefit should in future receive a flat-rate heating supplement per square meter of living space, which is staggered according to the size of the household.

In addition, the SPD is in favor of raising the maximum rental amounts in the housing allowance calculation.

In the calculation, more expensive rents would be recognized than before.

This is justified by the fact that achieving the climate targets in the building sector leads to higher housing costs.

“Rising energy prices are a particular burden for tenants on low incomes.

The SPD parliamentary group is of the opinion that the rising energy costs should be reflected in the housing benefit," said Daldrup.

(sne/dpa/AFP)