With the housing benefit out of Hartz IV and citizens' benefit: That's how it works
Created: 08/12/2022 16:33
By: Patricia Huber
The new Wohngeld Plus could be the way out of basic security for some Hartz IV recipients.
Who it affects and how it works.
Berlin – With the reform of the housing allowance, numerous households can expect additional financial aid.
Up to 1.4 million more households are to be added to the 600,000 households with housing benefit.
The housing allowance is also to be increased by an average of 190 euros per month.
This means that eligible households receive an average of around 370 euros per month.
Hartz IV and citizen's allowance: With the housing benefit away from the job center
All households that have little money at their disposal but do not receive any social benefits can apply for housing benefit.
Nevertheless, Hartz IV recipients, or future citizen benefit recipients, should not completely ignore the housing benefit.
Because if you only top up with Hartz IV, you could be better off with the housing benefit in the future.
The new regulations for “Wohngeld-Plus”, as the government calls it, could smooth the way out of basic security for Hartz IV recipients.
According to
gegen-hartz.de
, this affects around 380,000 people who receive unemployment benefit II in addition to their salary.
You can easily determine whether you should switch to housing benefit using the provisional housing benefit calculator from the Federal Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Building.
Those affected then even have to change the service, since the housing allowance is one of the priority services.
This is set out in paragraph 12a of the Second Social Security Code.
Whether you are entitled to housing benefit and how much you receive depends largely on your income.
In comparison to Hartz IV or the citizen's allowance, there are no sanctions for housing allowance and no regular job center appointments that those affected have to attend.
Eligible for housing benefit?
Job center must advise Hartz IV recipients
However, if you are a Hartz IV recipient and are unsure whether you are entitled to housing benefit, you can simply get advice on this from the responsible job center.
According to the technical instructions of the Federal Employment Agency, the employees are even obliged to do so.
The instructions literally say:
The job center must inform the persons entitled to benefits of priority benefits and the obligation to claim them.
In this respect, there is an increased obligation to provide advice.
Technical instructions § 12a SGB II, reference to priority services
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