The state reimburses people with citizen’s money for their accommodation costs. Finance Minister Lindner now wants to make cuts here – as well as for the Ukrainian war refugees.
According to a new initiative by FDP leader Christian Lindner, citizens’ benefit recipients should in future be reimbursed for their housing costs at a flat rate and not based on actual costs. “The benefit recipients can then decide whether they want to move into a smaller apartment and how they heat it,” said the Federal Finance Minister to “Wirtschaftswoche”. “I believe we can save billions of euros here.”
The municipalities currently cover, within certain limits, the costs of basic rent and heating as well as the operating costs of citizens’ benefit recipients and their families; The federal government supports them in this.
The state pays for accommodation for 2.7 million families
Of the 2.94 million communities of need, i.e. usually families living together, 2.73 million are currently recognized as having accommodation costs – cost: 1.77 billion euros. There are also one-off costs of 43 million euros.
An average of 649.96 euros is paid per community of needs, an average of 11.82 euros per square meter, and 362.69 euros per person in a community of needs. The statistics also show the operating and heating costs separately. 2.68 million communities of need relate to rental costs and 46,000 to home ownership. The average living space for families is 62 square meters. On average there is 35 square meters per person.
What does the state take over?
The state covers the so-called actual expenses for accommodation and heating for those receiving citizen’s benefit, provided they are appropriate. Cosmetic repairs, cable fees or, for example, an agreed usage fee for kitchen furniture, for example, are also covered if these are inevitably agreed in the rental agreement. Further additional costs, for example for a car parking space, are not covered. If you own your own home, expenses such as interest on debts or property taxes are covered.
As a spokeswoman for the Federal Employment Agency (BA) in Nuremberg explained, the BA as well as districts and cities are responsible for citizens’ benefits, while the municipalities are responsible for accommodation and heating. They regulate what is locally appropriate. The job centers implement this. Rents vary considerably within Germany.
Lindner wants to save on Ukrainians
Lindner also sees opportunities for savings in services for refugees from Ukraine. “We should consider a separate legal status for refugees from Ukraine,” he suggested. This should combine benefits for asylum seekers with labor market policy instruments that are intended for recipients of citizens’ benefit.
“Ukrainians do not have to go through a special asylum application process because of the war in their homeland,” explained Lindner. “On the other hand, they should not immediately receive a citizen’s allowance that is aimed at a socio-economic subsistence level with social participation even without work.”
Ukrainians are spared asylum procedures
In fact, Ukrainian war refugees generally receive EU-wide protection under the “mass influx directive,” as the Integration media service explains. The EU directive was activated for the first time at the beginning of March 2022. As of today, it has been extended until March 2026. “The advantage of the Europe-wide regulation: war refugees from Ukraine (…) automatically receive a residence status,” said the media service.
Refugees from Ukraine receive citizen’s benefit in Germany. Single people, for example, 563 euros per month. The standard rates should remain unchanged in 2025 due to a zero round. There is also help for rent and heating as well as health care. The Ministry of Labor emphasizes that the amounts ensure the subsistence level in Germany.
Around half a million employable Ukrainians
Asylum seekers whose asylum applications have not yet been decided receive less: 460 euros per month according to the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. They are not yet receiving advice from the job center.
In May 2024, according to the Federal Employment Agency, around 529,000 Ukrainians were registered as “fit for work” at job centers – and entitled to citizen benefit. Many are still in job center measures, integration courses or in short-term incapacity to work, for example single parents with children without a daycare place. Two thirds of them are women.
4,000 fewer unemployed Ukrainians
Not everyone who receives citizen’s benefit can take a job, the media service notes. Slightly more than a third of employable Ukrainians were available for the labor market in May 2024 (37 percent) – around 4,000 fewer than in April.
Overall, the number of foreigners with citizen’s benefit has risen significantly in recent years to 2.7 million – around 48 percent of all recipients. The main reason for the increase is the refugee movement after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
BSW founder Sahra Wagenknecht recently said that the German welfare state was being threatened. The German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB), however, sees it as a success that more and more Ukrainians are being placed in jobs.
Experts defend “sustainable strategy”
Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022, around 1.2 million people from there have found protection in Germany. Among Ukrainians, the proportion of citizens’ benefit recipients in the population group as a whole is currently almost 65 percent – a high figure compared to other nationalities. Experts from the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research (IAB), for example, still defend the “sustainable strategy” of getting people into the job market with German language and qualifications rather than as quickly as possible.
With citizens’ money, the job centers could support people in terms of labor market policy, explains IAB research director Enzo Weber. According to the IAB, twice as many Ukrainians are going out of unemployment and into jobs every month this year than in the previous year. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) recently rated the “job engine” for refugees in Germany launched by Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) as a success: 266,000 refugees from Ukraine are currently with jobs in Germany.
Overall, around a fifth of the approximately four million people who are able to work and receive citizen’s benefit receive their own income from work. Their salaries are so low that they have to top it up with state aid.
BA statistics on housing costs, current media service, integration of Ukrainian refugees in Germany
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
