Housing benefit is available as:

• Rent subsidy for tenants of an apartment or for residents of residential homes
• Encumbrance allowance for owners of their own home or condominium if they use the home or condominium themselves.

In principle, housing benefit can only be granted to those who submit an application and provide proof of the requirements (income, family size, rent/burden). Housing benefit is generally granted from the beginning of the month in which the application is received by the housing benefit office. (e.g. submission of the housing benefit application to the housing benefit office on 31.01., housing benefit granted from 01.01.)

You can obtain application forms and the relevant documents

• in the entrance area of the town hall in Salzgitter-Lebenstedt
• in the small town hall in Salzgitter-Bad
• at the housing benefit office
• or to download at the bottom of the website
  

The application can be sent by e-mail to wohngeldstadt.salzgitterde

or by post to the following address:

City of Salzgitter

Housing benefit office

Joachim-Campe-Straße 6-8

38226 Salzgitter

(Please note that the original signature is required on the housing benefit application)

As a rule, the processing time for a housing benefit application is 4 to 6 weeks. However, due to the current increased volume of applications, significantly longer processing times are to be expected. We therefore ask you to refrain from making enquiries regarding the status of your application.

The Housing Benefit Plus Act was passed on 01.01.2023. This was necessary in order to ensure adequate and family-friendly housing despite rising energy and living costs. To this end, the following changes to housing benefit were adopted:

• Introduction of a permanent heating cost component: flat-rate supplement on the rent to be taken into account, depending on the number of household members
• Introduction of a climate component: flat-rate supplement on the maximum amounts of the rent/charge to be taken into account, to cushion the costs of energy-related renovations

• Adjustment of the housing benefit to the current consumer index to ensure a maximum housing cost burden of 40 percent

• Provisional payment option: If there is sufficient probability of a housing benefit claim, it is possible to arrange a provisional payment

• If the income situation remains the same, the approval period can be extended to up to 24 months

• In future, applications for an increase can be made in the event of a change in circumstances of 10 percent instead of the previous 15 percent

• One-off income will only be taken into account for one year instead of three years as before

Overall, the changes mean that significantly more people are entitled to housing benefit and that the existing entitlement has increased considerably.

Child supplement - Children under the age of 25 may also be entitled to a child supplement. This must be applied for at the family benefits office. You can find more information here (opens in a new tab).

Citizen's allowance - If housing benefit and child supplement are not sufficient to cover your needs, you may be entitled to citizen's allowance. You can find more information here (opens in a new tab).

Basic income support in old age and reduced earning capacity - If the housing benefit is not sufficient to cover your needs and you are no longer available to the labor market due to your age or full reduction in earning capacity, you may be entitled to basic income support in old age and reduced earning capacity. You can find more information here (opens in a new tab).

Assistance with living expenses - If the housing benefit is not sufficient to cover your needs and you are temporarily unavailable to the labor market due to reduced earning capacity, you may be entitled to assistance with living expenses. You can find more information here (opens in a new tab).