Rents are outpacing government housing subsidies
The rising rents mean that the rent reference values for socially needy households no longer match the current situation on the housing market. The result: In Berlin there are more and more Hartz IV households whose rent is already above the permissible rental benchmarks. While in December 2019 around 65,000 so-called communities of need lived in an apartment whose rent was above the permissible benchmark, the number had climbed to 75,000 by April of this year.
This emerges from the response of the Senate Department for Integration, Labor and Social Affairs to a request from Left MPs Sandra Brunner, Stefanie Fuchs and Niklas Schenker. “This shows that we have to adjust the rental benchmarks to the increased rents,” says Sandra Brunner.
The benchmark rents in Berlin were last increased on July 1 of last year. One person is entitled to a 50 square meter apartment that costs 426 euros gross per month. For single parents with a child, the permitted living space is 65 square meters, with the gross cold rent amounting to 515.45 euros. There are additional surcharges for warm operating costs, i.e. for heating and hot water. The amount of the surcharge depends on whether the apartment is heated with heating oil, natural gas or district heating.
In around 19,000 cases, the actual rent is higher than the recognized costs
The number of communities of need whose rent is paid by the job center is believed to be around 214,000 in April this year. The number of cases in which the job center classified the rent as too high and made a “cost reduction”, i.e. paying less money for housing, is also low: it fell from 3684 in December 2019 to 1109 in December 2021. Background: Since From March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022, a transitional arrangement will apply, according to which the full costs of accommodation and heating will be recognized for unemployment benefit II and social assistance due to the Covid 19 pandemic. A reduction in costs is then excluded unless the reasonable costs have already been recognized before March 1, 2020.
In around 19,000 cases, the actual rental costs in April of this year are higher than the costs recognized by the job center – on average by 152 euros. This usually has expensive consequences for those affected. Because the communities of need usually have to pay the portion of the rent that is not refunded from their own wallet, i.e. from the monthly standard rate. For a single person, this amounts to 449 euros. “This means that a decent life is not possible,” says Left Party MP Brunner.
According to the Senate response, the reasons for the difference between the actual rent and the rent paid in full are “many and cannot be identified using statistical means”. For example, reimbursements from utility bills would lead to a reduction in the recognized costs. Income from subletting is also included. In other words, the tenants’ various incomes mean that the job center takes on a smaller part of the rental costs.
Left calls for more help from the federal government
In view of the rising energy costs, Sandra Brunner calls for more help from the federal government. “The federal government urgently needs to ensure that the actual accommodation and heating costs in particular are recognized from January 1, 2023,” she says. The relief package III that has just been decided says “unfortunately nothing” about this.
Brunner demands that the transitional regulation in force until December 31, 2022, under which the full costs of accommodation and heating are recognized for unemployment benefit II and social assistance due to the Covid 19 pandemic, must be continued. This applies in particular to heating costs. “Almost two-thirds of Berlin’s households are heated using gas,” says Brunner. “The price jumps in the energy supply are always fully taken into account when taking over the costs for the accommodation.” “That is the social responsibility that the federal government and the Berlin state government have to meet,” says Brunner.
When amending the implementation regulations (AV) for housing on January 1, 2023, it is necessary to ensure that the price jumps in heating costs are included in the new determination of the heating cost limit values. Recourse to the nationwide heating cost index is not enough. Because the heating cost index, which appears in autumn, “only reflects the price development for the past year 2021”. Should the aid refer to it, it would be too small.