The planned cuts to the housing benefit (Wohngeld) are predicted to disproportionately affect pensioners. This conclusion is based on figures released by the federal government in response to an inquiry from the Green parliamentary group, which was reported by “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.”
Statistics show that a total of 1.2 million people received the housing benefit in 2024. More than half of these recipients-638,000 people-were pensioners. Among those receiving the benefit, just over ten percent are single parents. The majority of recipients, 1.1 million people, rent their homes, while an additional 86,000 people receive the subsidy to help cover housing costs in their own homes.
Mayra Vriesema, the Green spokesperson for housing benefits, stated to newspapers that the benefit is an essential social service that offers direct relief in people’s daily lives. She labeled the planned saving of one billion euros through the reorganization of the benefit system as one of the most significant social cuts announced by the current federal government. She warned that the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition might push people into basic social security or even homelessness. Vriesema also criticized the government’s response as insufficient, claiming that the public is being left with immense uncertainty.
The federal housing ministry, meanwhile, points out that the precise impact of the necessary savings is currently still being determined. It maintains that, as recommended by the Social State Reform Commission (KRS), “systematic worsening” for beneficiaries must be ruled out.
This requirement for savings has arisen because Federal Minister for Housing, Verena Hubertz (SPD), must achieve a reduction of one billion euros according to the directives of Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD), which is to be accomplished through the new structuring of the housing benefit system.
