As of: February 16, 2024, 7:40 p.m
By: Sabine Riedl
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The last letter to date from the housing office: Nina Eichner was informed that the processing of her application for housing benefit would be significantly delayed.
During a phone call she found out: by 21 months!
© Klaus Haag
A Munich woman is shocked: processing her housing benefit application takes up to 21 months.
There is a lack of staff in the social services department to process the matter.
She promised more money for numerous low-income earners in Munich: When the Housing Benefit Plus reform was announced in September 2022, Nina Eichner was also relieved.
But then came the shocking news: it could take almost two years until her application is processed and she receives her money!
Mother lives with her son in a two-room apartment
The single mother lives with her almost 15-year-old son in a modest two-room apartment in Milbertshofen in a rental building owned by the municipal housing association.
In spring 2022 she applied for housing benefit.
Even then, a waiting time that seemed almost endless passed.
Nina Eichner hardly believed she would hear anything from the housing benefit office anymore when the notice and the additional payment for more than a year finally arrived in June 2023.
Report writes of a “significant delay)
She received unemployment benefit in 2022, housing benefit in 2023 and now sickness benefit.
In July last year, she submitted a new application for “Housing Benefit Plus” – and received a confirmation saying that the processing of her application would be “significantly delayed”.
When she hadn't heard from the housing office by January 15th, she called them - and found out what a significant delay actually means: up to 21 months!
For the woman from Milbertshofen, it was a real shock that she first had to digest.
“I may have to wait until 2025!
“That can’t be right,” she says.
The housing benefit was intended to help Nina Eichner make ends meet better.
At the moment she lives on child benefit, maintenance, child allowance and sick pay.
She urgently needs the housing benefit in order to have at least a little financial flexibility.
“At the moment I have to get by on around 500 euros,” she reports.
“300 euros in housing benefit would make my life a lot easier.”
It's not worth applying for citizen's benefit
At least: For her son, who is still a student, at least a few necessary things can be financed through the “Education and Participation” program.
For Nina Eichner, it is not worth applying for additional citizen's benefit - especially since she is threatened with a repayment of housing benefit if she receives citizen's benefit (see box below).
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Nina Eichner wanted to improve her precarious financial situation by getting food from the food bank.
But she was brushed off there – “with flimsy reasons,” as she says.
Nobody can help Nina Eichner financially
Family and friends cannot help her financially.
A small consolation: at least she doesn't have to worry about being fired by her city landlord.
Nina Eichner is not an isolated case.
When asked by our newspaper, a spokeswoman for the social affairs department justified the immensely long waiting times with the sharp increase in the number of applications due to the Housing Benefit Plus reform.
The main problem is the many hopeless applications and the many bureaucratic hurdles that have to be taken into account when calculating housing benefit.
Almost 17,000 applications open
In 2023 alone, 20,254 applications were submitted.
In 2022 there were 14,089. At the end of December, around 16,900 applications were open or were being processed.
According to the department, with the current staff - seven of the 56 positions are vacant - an average of between 1,000 and 1,200 applications can be processed per month.
In order to shorten the delays, an advice center on the subject of Housing Benefit Plus began its work in June 2023.
“This advice is intended to prevent an immense number of applications from arriving at the housing office that have no chance of being approved,” the department says.
There also appears to be relief in terms of staff, with 16 new employees being hired in the first few months of 2024.
The application process should also be simplified; a simplified application has already been developed and is awaiting approval from the supervisory authority.
Citizens' benefit and housing benefit are not available at the same time
With the Housing Benefit Plus Act, more poor households in Munich receive financial support.
The number of those entitled rose from 4,100 to a good 12,000 households.
However, there are still many who cannot receive housing benefit - and still submit applications.
According to the city's website, households that receive basic security, citizen's benefit, social benefit or assistance with living expenses in accordance with the Social Security Code are not eligible for housing benefit.
For Nina Eichner, this means that while she is waiting for her application to be processed, she cannot receive any citizen's benefit.
Otherwise she would lose her eligibility to receive housing benefit.