Housing benefit plus

You can apply for housing benefit in the form of a rent subsidy

• as a tenant of owner-occupied housing
• as a permanent resident of a retirement or nursing home
• as a permanent resident of a special form of housing in accordance with the Federal Participation Act
• as the owner of a house with more than two apartments for owner-occupied living space therein

You can apply for housing benefit in the form of an encumbrance allowance

• as the owner of an owner-occupied condominium
• as the owner of an owner-occupied house with up to two apartments

Whether and how much housing benefit you receive depends on

• the number of people in your household
• the total income of the household
• the amount of eligible rent or charges.

There are maximum limits for income and eligible rent or charges for owner-occupiers.

Important for trainees: Single persons who are entitled to BAföG or a vocational training allowance are excluded from housing benefit, even if they are not entitled to training assistance due to their own income or their parents’ income. The exclusion from housing benefit therefore also applies to single persons in initial training if they do not receive any training assistance benefits but could receive them without exceeding their income.

• Proof of rent or burden
• Proof of total household income (for example, employment income of all kinds, alimony of all kinds, unemployment benefits, sickness benefits, maternity benefits, capital gains of all kinds, and so on).

You can receive housing allowance at the earliest from the month in which your application is received.

As a rule, you will receive housing benefit for twelve months. In individual cases, this period may be longer or shorter. If you wish to continue receiving housing benefit after this period, you must reapply for it. You should submit an application for continued payment two months before the end of the current period. This will help you avoid interruptions in payment.

Please contact your local housing assistance office:

If your financial situation or your living conditions have improved or changed, the housing allowance may also be reduced. You are obliged to report any changes that may lead to a reduction in housing benefit without delay.

In order to prevent or detect the unlawful claiming of housing allowance, the housing allowance authority must regularly check the household members by means of a so-called data comparison.

Housing Subsidy Act (WoGG), Housing Subsidy Ordinance (WoGV)

As before, your actual individual heating costs, i.e. also the back payment for heating costs, are not taken into account for Housing Benefit Plus.

I am between 15 and 65 years old and able to work: You may be entitled to claim from the Jobcenter.  You can find information on the requirements and how to apply here. (opens in a new tab) If your income exceeds the minimum subsistence level, this amount will be offset against the additional heating costs payment, so that the remainder will be the amount you are entitled to if all requirements are met.

I am over 65 years old or unable to work: You may be entitled to claim from the Office for Social Affairs and Participation. You can obtain information on the requirements and how to apply from the  Social Benefits Office (opens in a new tab). If your income exceeds the minimum subsistence level, you must contribute this amount to the additional heating costs. The difference between the back payment for heating costs and your own contribution can then be paid as a benefit if all the requirements are met.

Heating costs are taken into account in Housing Benefit Plus in the form of a flat-rate supplement, which is included in the housing benefit calculation.

A climate component, also in the form of a lump sum, means that higher maximum amounts are taken into account in Housing Benefit Plus for any increased cold rents following energy-efficient refurbishment.

For an initial very rough estimate of whether your (gross) income will still be above the income limits in 2025, you can take a look at the following example income limits. Please note the explanations attached to the overview.

Taking your own rent into account, you can estimate a possible housing allowance without obligation using the calculator below.

For a somewhat more precise income calculation, we also recommend the  housing allowance calculator of the city of Berlin (opens in a new tab). Please enter “Baden-Württemberg” for the federal state and “S” for the city first and then select “Stuttgart”.

An overview of the necessary forms and documents as well as the requirements and deadlines to be met can be found on our service pages on the topic of housing allowance.

If you would like to apply for housing allowance in the form of a rent subsidy or the continued payment of a rent subsidy for housing in Stuttgart for the first time, you can submit the application conveniently online, also using your smartphone or tablet.

If you do not wish to submit an online application, and for all other types of applications (applications for increases or all applications for owner-occupied housing allowances), please continue to apply for housing allowances by  e-mail or by post.

For the time being, you can also apply for housing allowance informally by e-mail or by post to meet the deadline, provided that you state your first name and surname, date of birth and the full address of the residential property for which you wish to receive housing allowance.

However, we recommend that you submit an online application or an application on the official form, even if you may not yet have all the supporting documents.

You will need to scan application forms.

Note that individual emails, depending on the email provider, are usually allowed to be up to 10 MB in size. Therefore, we recommend that you do not take high-resolution photos of the signed forms, but use an appropriate scanning app. If you exceed the limit of email attachments, you will have to spread the attachments over several mails.

Please address the mail to  wohngeldstuttgartde