As of: March 7, 2024, 4:43 p.m
By: Andreas Daschner
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Causes a headache: Many Munich residents are urgently waiting for the housing benefit they have applied for.
© dpa
Long waiting times for housing benefit will soon be a thing of the past - promises the city of Munich.
A simplified application should make this possible.
Nina Eichner from Milbertshofen has to wait up to 21 months for her housing benefit.
This is by no means an isolated case in Munich.
But now the process should be accelerated.
As the city reports, the social services department has developed a simplified housing benefit application and plans to use it from March 18th.
The Bavarian construction minister responsible for this has given approval until the end of 2024.
The new application is intended to shorten processing times.
Around 17,500 applications are open
Since the Housing Benefit Plus reform was announced in September 2022, applications to the city of Munich have increased dramatically.
At the end of February 2024, around 17,500 applications were open or were being processed.
The city justifies the long processing time with a lack of staff while the number of applications has increased by 45 percent - and above all with numerous applications from unauthorized people.
With the change in the law, the proportion of households that can receive housing benefit increased from 0.4 to 1.2 percent.
However, the number of applicants is much higher and many applicants are not entitled to housing benefit even under the new regulations.
It is therefore necessary to simplify the procedure in order to be able to process the applications of those who are actually entitled quickly.
OB calls for further simplifications
The SPD and the Greens in the city council welcome the new procedure.
But Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) wants more: “In addition, the overall housing benefit regulations still need to be streamlined and simplified.”
Nina Eichner will probably still have to wait for her money.
Because: Despite the simplified application, the processing time will only be reduced over the course of the year as there is still a high volume of applications, according to the city.