Overview
- The housing ministry has opened a policy process to reduce and redesign Wohngeld that aims to lower spending from roughly €5 billion to about €3 billion and targets roughly €1 billion in federal and €1 billion in state savings.
- Housing Minister Verena Hubertz signalled in late June that about one third of current households — roughly 400,000 of about 1.2 million Wohngeld households — could lose eligibility under the new rules while current, active awards would not be retroactively cut.
- Official data show the Wohngeld rolls grew sharply after the January 2023 Wohngeld‑Plus reform, rising from about 618,200 households at end‑2020 to roughly 1.19 million at end‑2024, with pensioners making up about half of recipients and roughly 700,000 pensioners recorded at end‑2024.
- Policy options under discussion include bundling Wohngeld with other payments such as basic security and the child allowance following recommendations by the Sozialstaatskommission, a move that raises complex distribution and implementation questions and is being negotiated with the Länder and parliamentary groups.
- Critics including the Mieterbund, Greens and Left warn the proposal would hit retirees, single parents and low‑income families hardest and could push some into basic social assistance or housing insecurity while ministers say detailed rules will be worked out for the 2027 budget and a concept is expected by autumn 2026.