Wiesbaden (dpa/lhe) - Around 130,000 Hessian households with low incomes can benefit from the new housing benefit regulations from January 1, 2023. "It is important financial help for everyone who is particularly suffering from rising energy costs and rising prices," said Economics Minister Tarek Al-Wazir (Greens) in Wiesbaden. "These are mainly families with low incomes, often single parents and pensioners with a small pension." The amount will increase from an average of around 180 euros per month to around 370 euros per month for an estimated three times as many households as before.
The new housing benefit plus is part of the housing benefit reform 2023, which the federal and state governments had agreed on. A permanent heating cost component makes it easier for people to pay for rising heating costs, explained Al-Wazir. A climate component cushions the financial expenditure for energy-related renovations.
Housing benefit is paid as a subsidy to households whose income is above the basic security level but below certain income limits. At the end of 2021, there were 38,430 housing benefit households in Hesse. The 2023 reform aims to triple the number of recipients nationwide. The cost of housing benefit is borne equally by the federal and state governments.
