Subsistence benefits and specialist benefits in special forms of housing (former inpatient facilities for integration assistance) from January 1, 2020

Residents living in a special form of integration assistance can apply for benefits to secure their livelihood in accordance with Social Code XII if their own income and assets are not sufficient to cover their necessary living expenses (rent, health insurance, living costs, etc.).

Responsibility for integration assistance benefits remains with the integration assistance provider. In North Rhine-Westphalia, this is the Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR) and the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL).

For residents of "special forms of housing", this means that the required benefits, e.g. for social participation and benefits to secure their livelihood, are processed by two different bodies if necessary:

• applications for benefits to secure a livelihood (rent, health insurance, living expenses...) are processed by the local social welfare provider (districts and independent cities).
• In North Rhine-Westphalia, applications for integration assistance benefits are processed by the Rhineland and Westphalia-Lippe regional associations.

Reasonable rent in special forms of housing:

For persons entitled to benefits in special forms of housing, the actual expenses for accommodation and heating are taken into account as requirements, provided they are reasonable.

The adequacy limit is based on the amount of the average reasonable actual expenses for the warm rent of a single-person household in the local area of responsibility of the respective institution.

The average appropriate gross warm rent determined for the Bonn city area is €480.53/month for 2024 and €504.50/month from January 2025.

If the actual rent is higher than the above-mentioned average reasonable warm rent, it can be checked whether further rental costs can be covered.