Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - A compact brochure with information on the new housing allowance is intended to give tenants orientation for their applications. The information sheet was developed jointly by the Ministry of Building, the consumer advice center and representatives from the tenants' association and the housing and real estate industry in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is to be distributed to tenants in NRW, as the state government announced in Düsseldorf on Tuesday.
The rush to the new housing allowance with an extended group of beneficiaries has pushed many city administrations in North Rhine-Westphalia to their limits in recent weeks. Since mid-December, citizens have been able to check www.wohngeldrechner.nrw.de whether they are entitled to housing benefit under the new law and at the same time submit an application for housing benefit online, emphasized Building Minister Ina Scharrenbach (CDU).
"All people who have a claim should not be afraid to assert it," appealed the chairman of the NRW tenants' association, Hans-Jochem Witzke, to those entitled. "The sooner the better, because time is money here too."
The director of the association of the housing and real estate industry of Rhineland-Westphalia, Alexander Rychter, said: "By providing information and advice, for example on the necessary information or documents, we want to help to significantly reduce processing times and at the same time support tenant households and municipalities who are entitled to claim ." Households with low incomes in particular needed significant financial support in order to pay their high electricity and gas bills during the energy crisis, added Wolfgang Schuldzinski, the head of the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice centre.
