As of: February 17, 2024, 5:00 p.m
By: Franziska Weber
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Filling out housing benefit applications is not easy for everyone.
According to the Starnberg Caritas Association, more and more people are asking for support.
© robert michael/dpa
Everything has become more expensive – including rent and additional costs.
That is why the federal government has reformed housing benefit.
The number of applications in the Starnberg district has almost doubled in the past two years.
District – Housing is becoming more and more expensive.
This is also reflected in the number of housing benefit applications in the Starnberg district - these have almost doubled in the past two years.
While there were 635 in 2021, the number rose to 801 in 2022. In 2023 it then climbed to 1214.
People who rent living space, use their property as living space or live in a home are entitled to housing benefit, explains Stefan Diebl, spokesman for the district office.
Housing benefit is a rent subsidy; if the recipient lives in their own property, it is called a burden subsidy.
A reform came into force in Germany at the beginning of 2023, which, according to the federal government, means that around three times more households across Germany are entitled to housing benefit.
The fact that applications have already increased in 2022 could, for example, be due to the consequences of Corona, but on the other hand, many citizens wanted to receive the heating subsidy, explains Diebl.
The grant was paid from October 1st to May 31st, 2022 and from September 1st to December 31st, 2022.
Diebl:
Of the 801 housing benefit applications in 2022, a total of 279 were approved, of those in 2023 (as of today) 279. “Due to staff changes and the high volume of applications, the processing time is currently several months.
“It has therefore not yet been possible to finalize all applications,” explains Diebl.
162 households in the district currently receive housing benefit.
As a rule, applications must be submitted annually.
The fact that relatively few applications are approved is because applicants often do not submit the required documents on time or at all.
“Only the smaller remainder are actual rejections because mathematically there is simply no entitlement,” explains the authority spokesman.
Housing benefit: Complicated official language is a hurdle
When asked by the Starnberger Merkur, Hannelore Breiter from the Caritas Association's specialist advice center for preventing homelessness said: “In our experience, one of the reasons for a negative decision is the lack of cooperation.” The reason is the usually complicated official language.
“More and more people are contacting us asking for help filling out forms, but the main task of our advice center is to avert the threat of losing their home.” However, there are often overlaps in this regard.
Refugees in particular need extensive support with their applications, says Breiter.
“In our opinion, citizens are now also applying for housing benefit who would have been entitled to it before, but who for a variety of reasons did not apply,” the social worker also reports.
The reasons are very different - for example, ignorance about state benefits or a monthly income that was sufficient until recently.
However, the cost of living and rents have now risen so much that there is significantly less money left at the end of the month.
“Wages and salaries have not followed suit to the same extent.
People with a generally low basic income need more financial support,” said Breiter.
In contrast to the number of housing benefit applications, the applications for the housing entitlement certificate, which are also submitted to the district office, have remained relatively stable.
According to the district office, 813 applications were received in 2021, 858 in 2022 and 855 last year. The housing entitlement certificate is not financial support, it entitles you to live in a publicly subsidized apartment.
In the Starnberg district, the Wohnen Association provides social housing.
When asked by Starnberger Merkur, managing director Andreas Oberhofer said: “The demand for living space is unbroken.” The Wohnen Association currently has around 2,500 apartments.
Oberhofer: “It is important that we build.”
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