The Bonn city administration is therefore doing everything it can to meet the legitimate expectations of tenants and homeowners. Nevertheless, long waiting times for payment must be accepted.
The City of Bonn expressly welcomes the new Housing Benefit Plus in times of inflation and energy crisis. This is linked to the hopes of many people who are no longer able to cover the high housing costs with their income or pension alone.
The preparation time until the reform came into force was only a few weeks. As a result, Bonn - like all other cities and municipalities nationwide - did not have sufficient lead time to react to the tripling of the number of applications in terms of personnel, space and technology. The city administration very much regrets this and asks for your understanding if the final housing benefit notices cannot be issued until the second quarter of 2023. However, citizens will not lose any entitlements, as housing benefit is calculated retrospectively from the date the application is received.
Housing benefit is granted from the month in which the application is submitted.
Anyone already receiving housing benefit will continue to receive benefits without having to reapply and will be automatically transferred to the new Housing Benefit Plus.
You can find the online housing benefit application here:
The information material of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Municipal Affairs, Building and Digitization of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MHKBH) can be found here:
Notes
The city itself accepts the applications, including the relevant supporting documents; the calculation of the housing benefit payment is carried out by the state agency IT.NRW in Düsseldorf. IT.NRW also sends the housing benefit notices to citizens. The volume of applications at the housing benefit office has risen sharply in view of the Housing Benefit Plus reform. Processing times of up to 6 months are therefore to be expected. The processing time is calculated from the time at which the documents required to process the application have been submitted in full. If the eligibility requirements are met, it is always ensured that existing housing benefit claims are paid retroactively from the date of application. We ask for your understanding.
Appointments can only be made by calling the telephone number of the responsible case officer or by using the contact form.
The Housing Benefit Office is closed on Wednesdays until further notice.
You can reach the Housing Benefit Office by telephone on 0228 - 77 29 19.