From BZ/dpa
The housing benefit reform announced for early 2023 poses considerable challenges for Berlin. The districts should receive financial and human help to handle the implementation.
According to the Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing, Berlin is already preparing intensively for the housing benefit reform decided by the Bundestag and on Friday also by the Bundesrat. The responsible Senator Andreas Geisel (SPD) considers the implementation at the beginning of the year to be impossible. “Like all the other building ministers of the federal states, I made it clear at an early stage that the payment cannot begin on January 1st,” Geisel told the German Press Agency. “The period between the Bundestag decision and the effective date is too short for that.”
However, fomenting panic and scaremongering would not help anyone. “We are working hard to ensure that the housing benefit reform can be implemented quickly.”
The housing benefit reform is scheduled to come into force in January. “We are currently preparing for the changeover of the IT, as the previous processing procedures have to be adapted to the new regulations,” said Geisel. This should be completed in January. “It’s top of the range nationwide. This as a message to all Berlin bashers,” said Geisel. The housing benefit procedure is managed centrally by the urban development administration to support the districts. “The aim is that the issuing of notifications under the new law should be possible from around mid-January 2023.”
Three times as many households through reform
Around 25,000 households in Berlin currently receive housing benefit. The Senate expects the number of households to triple to around 75,000 as a result of the housing benefit reform. The housing benefit authorities in the twelve districts will face great challenges in terms of personnel, space and technology, said Geisel. “It doesn’t help to whine, but to do something to help the people who need our help. The housing benefit reform itself is excellent.”
According to Geisel, the districts have financial resources available for 209 new staff positions for their housing benefit authorities. “These must now be publicly advertised and filled immediately.”
The districts also received direct staff reinforcement from the Senate administration by one employee each from the department who was hired in 2021 to process the Berlin rent cap. “The delegation of the colleagues is currently being prepared and is already planned for December 1st.”
The urban development administration has managed to get 24 probationary government inspectors from the main administration seconded to a station in the districts to support the housing benefit authorities in examining housing benefit applications. “Then two more people can be deployed in each district and trained in December 2022,” said Geisel. “This is an initial increase in personnel until the new staff positions are filled.”
Households that do not receive social benefits but still have little money can apply for housing benefit. In the future, people who earn the minimum wage or have a pension of a comparable amount should also be able to receive housing benefit.