The housing benefit reform is coming.
Eligible households will receive more money in the coming year.
The city of Munich is preparing for a flood of applications.
Munich – One thing straight away: the housing benefit does not flow overnight.
On the contrary: the waiting time is long – up to twelve months on average.
And only a fraction of all Munich residents enjoy this funding.
In Munich there were 4,100 out of around 843,500 households.
Social officer Dorothee Schiwy (SPD) expects the numbers to triple when the federal housing benefit reform comes into effect on January 1st.
But that would only be 1.5 percent of Munich households who receive support.
Housing benefit: a flood of applications expected in Munich
Nevertheless, the housing benefit office expects a flood of 70,000 applications in the coming year.
Only a good fifth of these are likely to be approved.
Who gets how much housing benefit is calculated using a complicated formula that takes into account the rent, total income and the number of household members.
In Munich, the new net income limit for a one-person household is 1,541 euros (previously 1,188 euros), and for a four-person household it is 3,484 euros.
Persons who already receive a state social benefit that also includes the cost of rent do not receive housing benefit.
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According to the federal government, the average amount of the subsidy will increase in 2023 from the current 180 to 370 euros per month.
Pensioners already make up around half of the housing benefit recipients at around 50 percent, and this proportion could increase as a result of the reform.
In addition to many seniors, families in particular should benefit from the new housing benefit, so far it has been about small household incomes.
According to experts, the lower middle class should also benefit in the future.
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Pensioner Franz Hörtrich from Munich has made the arduous journey to apply for housing benefit.
© Markus Goetzfried
Housing benefit: the city of Munich is trying to shorten the waiting time
In order to shorten the waiting time, the Munich city council had approved 27 new jobs for the housing benefit department before Christmas.
The social department will do everything possible to "design a citizen-friendly preliminary clarification of housing benefit claims as quickly as possible and to process the housing benefit applications, which are already increasing," explains Dorothee Schiwy, head of the authority.
The city is also planning a central contact point for housing benefit matters.
When is the support? The applicant reports
The social welfare office sent me here to Werinherstrasse so that I can apply for housing benefit.
I have a pension of 1400 euros: I have to use this to pay my rent, my insurance, electricity costs, radio license fees and everything else.
My wife died two years ago - I also had to pay 2000 euros a month to care for her.
Now I'm glad that I'm getting some support - but they didn't tell me when I would get this money.
Because I find it difficult to walk, the long way here is very difficult – and the office is not easy to find either.
In addition, at the beginning no one knew what I really wanted, but when the person responsible came, everything went quite well.
I was also told that the office was actually still closed because of Corona.
Franz Hörtrich (86), pensioner, Munich
On the website of the housing benefit office (www.muenchen.de/wohngeld) you will find an overview of the required documents and information about the advice centers of the associations, which provide assistance with filling them out.
The support of the associations will probably be possible from mid-January because the advisors have to be trained beforehand.
There is also a housing benefit calculator on the site that provides an indication of whether and to what extent applicants are entitled to housing benefit.
Klaus Vick
List of rubrics: © Markus Götzfried
