The increase in rents in Bavaria is accompanied by a sharp increase in the number of housing benefit recipients. At the end of 2022, a total of 57,055 “pure housing benefit households” in Bavaria received state support, as the State Statistical Office in Fürth reported on Thursday. That was an increase of 6.6 percent, almost 4,000 more households than the year before.
According to the 2021 microcensus, there are a total of around 6.3 million private households in Bavaria. “Pure” housing benefit households are those households in which all residents are entitled to help to cover housing costs. These are often single parents or pensioners.
Not only tenants are entitled to housing benefit, but also owners in financially poor circumstances. But the vast majority of recipients are renters. According to the state office, the average subsidy amounted to 194 euros per month. The Fürth authority’s figures only refer to the past year.
This year, following the federal government’s housing benefit reform, both expenditure and the number of recipients will increase sharply. According to the federal government, two million low-income households across Germany have been entitled to housing benefit since January 1, 2023, three times more than before. In addition, the new “Housing Benefit Plus” is twice as high as before, at an average of 370 euros.