Housing benefit: Subsidies are now available to more people – but they need patience

Created: 01/04/2023, 08:00

By: Sebastian Tauchnitz

More people than before are entitled to housing benefit (symbol image).

© Rolf Kosecki/IMAGO

The Housing Allowance Plus Act came into force on January 1st.

Significantly more people are now entitled to the grant.

That means a lot of work for the district office.

District

- "The state housing allowance is a subsidy to economically secure appropriate and family-friendly housing for all citizens, which is only paid on application," explains Klaus Mergel, deputy press spokesman for the district office, to the local newspaper.

The amount of housing benefit depends, among other things, on the number of household members, the amount of total income and the rent or burden to be taken into account.

"Wohngeld Plus" will also result in higher housing benefit payments in the district from 2023.

"This law was introduced by the German federal government at very short notice, so that there may be longer waiting times due to the complex processing in the Schongau housing benefit office," warns Mergel as a precaution.

Personnel requirements not yet foreseeable

So far, four employees have been employed in the housing benefit office, who share a total of 3.15 full-time positions, said Mergel yesterday on request.

At the turn of the year, an additional full-time position for assistance services was created, which has already been filled.

For this purpose, another person is currently being gradually trained, who is to be used full-time in clerical work.

At the moment it is not foreseeable whether the number of applications can be handled with the staff currently provided, Mergel continues.

A serious statement on the personnel requirements "is only possible at a later date".

All applications for housing benefit would be processed successively and decided by December 2022 according to the valid 2022 law and from January 2023 according to the valid 2023 law.

For existing cases of housing benefit, an automatic adjustment including payment is expected to take place in January 2023.

"Recipients of housing benefit don't have to do anything about it," says Mergel.

The number of applications has doubled since October

All applications would normally be processed after the date of receipt.

"Our team in Schongau has been receiving an increasing flood of applications for months, and these have already doubled since October," says Peter Utzschneider, technical manager of the housing benefit department in the Weilheim-Schongau district office.

"We are aware that the current situation - especially due to the price increases and high energy costs - is putting many citizens under a lot of pressure." Utzschneider therefore asks for understanding and patience from the applicants: "All employees are doing their best to process the applications as quickly as possible edit as possible.”

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He points out that due to the high number of cases and for legal reasons, it is not possible to submit applications by telephone.

"But we have set up a central hotline that can be reached on 08861/2113143 and where citizens can get advice," says Utzschneider.

A central contact point is also being set up where documents can be handed in and forms can be picked up.

The forms are also available in the municipalities.

"In individual cases, we're also happy to send the forms by post," says Utzschneider.

For all municipalities in the district of Weilheim-Schongau, the processing is carried out by the housing benefit office in Schongau.

Housing benefit calculator provides information

The so-called “Heating Costs Subsidy II” (according to the Heating Costs Subsidy Act) is also intended to provide relief from the sharp rise in energy costs.

This one-time subsidy will probably be checked and paid out by the end of February 2023 once the requirements have been met.

The prerequisite for this is that you have received housing benefit between September 1st and December 31st, 2022.

"If you submit your application in full and with the necessary evidence and if possible avoid unnecessary inquiries - such as the processing status - it can go much faster," says Utzschneider.

There is also the option of submitting a paperless online application at www.weilheim-schongau.de.

There you will also find the housing allowance calculator, which you can use to check whether you are entitled to housing allowance at all.