Overview
- The housing allowance is a legal entitlement when statutory conditions are met, with awards calculated from household size, total income and eligible rent or housing burden.
- Administrative asset guidance remains at €60,000 for the first household member and €30,000 for each additional member in 2026, with certain locked retirement savings disregarded within limits.
- Child benefit, the child supplement and education and participation benefits do not count as income for Wohngeld, and some other payments such as care allowances are excluded or only partly counted.
- Families may receive Wohngeld alongside the child supplement, but they must file separately with the local Wohngeld office and the Family Benefits Office, and payouts follow different schedules.
- Processing times vary widely—complete cases may be decided in roughly six weeks but many wait months—yet payments are backdated to the month of application, and a minimum‑income plausibility check applies.