Leipzig (dpa/sn) – After the first pilot projects in the districts of Görlitz and northern Saxony in 2021, two thirds of the housing benefit authorities in Saxony now offer online applications. In the three independent cities of Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig, almost 2,400 housing benefit applications were submitted online in January 2023, as the Ministry for Regional Development announced on Friday. “This corresponds to about 20 percent of the total applications received in these cities,” it said.
“The online application is up-to-date and saves a lot of work when it comes to processing,” said Minister of State Thomas Schmidt (CDU). It has been shown that the applications submitted online are in most cases already fully received by the authorities due to numerous help functions.
According to the ministry, an online application for housing benefit has so far been possible in the housing benefit authorities of the districts of Mittelsachsen, Vogtlandkreis, Bautzen, Görlitz and Nordsachsen. In addition to the cities of Leipzig, Chemnitz and Dresden, Döbeln, Delitzsch and Freiberg also offer the service.
The Erzgebirge district and the districts of Saxon Switzerland-Eastern Ore Mountains, Leipzig, Meißen, Zwickau and cities such as Pirna or Plauen are still preparing to start the online application.
With housing benefit, the federal and state governments support people who need a subsidy for rent or for the costs of owner-occupied housing. According to the ministry, a housing benefit application can also be made for residents of homes. The amount of the subsidy depends on the income, the number of household members and the amount of the cold rent or the burden in the case of owner-occupied residential property.
With the housing benefit reform (Wohngeld-Plus-Gesetz), which came into force at the beginning of 2023, housing benefit households will now also be relieved of heating costs, according to the ministry. Housing benefit is granted for twelve months. An application is also required for the further granting of housing benefit, which should be submitted two months before the end of the period.
