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The number of housing benefit recipients has continued to rise in Baden-Württemberg. In view of the high housing costs, the state is further expanding its support for low-income households.
The number of housing benefit recipients in Baden-Württemberg has continued to increase this year. As the Minister for Regional Development and Housing, Nicole Razavi , announced on October 14, 2024, around 91,000 low-income households in the state were receiving housing benefit at the end of September . That is around seven percent more than a year ago (86,000) and around 47 percent more than in 2022 (62,000), i.e. before the housing benefit reform came into force at the beginning of 2023.
"The housing benefit reform is working," said Razavi. "Since then, we have been able to support significantly more households in the country - and with significantly larger sums." The average amount of housing benefit paid out per month has increased from 288 euros in 2022 to 448 euros now, the minister continued. This is an increase of around 56 percent.
The federal government should contribute more to the costs
Razavi also pointed out that the whole thing is a financial tour de force for the state: According to her, the costs of housing benefit, which are shared equally between the federal government and the state, rose to around 360 million euros in Baden-Württemberg in the first three quarters of this year. This is almost a threefold increase compared to the same period before the reform in 2022 (132 million euros). "Since the federal government has made savings on citizen's allowance and social assistance by expanding the group of recipients of housing benefit, it would only be fair and just if it were to contribute more than just half of the housing benefit costs in the future," said Razavi. This is also the unanimous opinion of the other federal states. In addition, the federal government must simplify and thus speed up the application process. "It is annoying that nothing has happened so far and the federal government sees no reason to tackle this in the current legislative period," said Razavi.
Significantly more money for affordable housing
The housing benefit reform came into force on January 1, 2023. With the introduction of the new Housing Benefit Plus, significant improvements in benefits and a significant expansion of the group of recipients were initiated. The core of the reform is the introduction of a heating cost and climate component, the adjustment of the housing benefit formula and the raising of the income limits.
According to Razavi, the state is expecting additional costs due to the dynamization of housing benefit, which was decided at federal level on January 1, 2025: For the state alone, the adjustment to price and rent developments is likely to mean additional expenditure of around 81 million euros for the 2025 and 2026 fiscal years. "In addition, we want to almost double the state funds for social housing support ," said Razavi. "This shows how strongly the state government is committed to affordable housing."
Housing benefit can now be applied for digitally at most housing benefit authorities in the country. As Razavi announced, 117 of the 133 authorities are now using the service that the state made available to them at the beginning of 2023. Since then, around 35,000 online applications have been received by the housing benefit authorities (as of September 30, 2024). The housing benefit authorities can activate it independently for their area of ??responsibility on "service-bw" . Here, citizens can also find out whether their authority offers the online service.
housing benefit
Not only tenants can receive housing benefit (in the form of a rent subsidy), but also owners of owner-occupied housing (in the form of a burden subsidy). Housing benefit is granted to low-income households upon application to the local housing benefit authority. The amount of the subsidy is calculated based on the number of household members to be taken into account, the rent of the living space or the burden on owner-occupied housing, and the total income of the household members to be taken into account. If housing benefit has been applied for, it is paid retroactively up to the first of the month in which the application was made. This is particularly important for housing benefit households as applications take longer to process.
