Federal states with Union participation, without whose consent the citizen’s income cannot come into force, declared that the proposed amendments did not change the grossest “weaving errors” of the law. There are significant problems with the planned trust and waiting periods, said North Rhine-Westphalia’s Minister of Social Affairs Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU).
But the traffic light does not want to shake that. During the two-year waiting period, the assets of benefit recipients are not taken into account, and they do not have to move out of an apartment that is too large. In a six-month trust period, only very limited reductions in benefits are possible.
The government factions had agreed on some changes to the draft at the end of last week. For example, the job centers should only reimburse the heating costs of citizens’ allowance recipients in the appropriate and not in the actual amount. Citizens’ income recipients who have assets should also have to break this down at least roughly.
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Traffic light representatives accused the Union, sometimes in a sharp tone, of blocking the social reform for party tactical reasons. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil said at his party’s “debate camp” at the weekend that the Union was spreading “fake news” like former US President Donald Trump in order to divide society.
Criticism of Merz’s proposal
Despite Klingbeil’s “poisoning of the well”, CDU leader Friedrich Merz has shown a viable way to solve the conflict, said Gröhe. Merz had suggested at the weekend that the planned increase in the standard rates, which the Union is also behind, should be decided separately and that the Citizens’ Income Act be dealt with later.
The first parliamentary secretary of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, rejected this proposal as a “diversionary tactic”. Every day, the CDU boss invents a different reason to reject the citizens’ allowance. “Last week it was the increase in standard rates that he now wants to agree to. Then it was the protective assets that the CDU has twice approved in the Bundestag. Now it’s all citizen money except for the increase.”
In fact, the Union had approved changes to the protective assets, but only the temporary special Corona regulation, which the traffic light now wants to transfer to the grace period. In order for this to happen seamlessly, decisions must be made quickly not only about the standard rates, but also about the waiting period, according to the traffic light groups.
After experts once again expressed their views on citizen income in a public hearing in the Bundestag, some of which were very critical, the final consultation in the Bundestag is scheduled for Thursday. It remains to be seen whether the traffic lights or the federal states will make concessions by then.
Merz had suggested at the weekend that the planned increase in the standard rates, which the Union is also behind, should be decided separately and that the Citizens’ Income Act be dealt with later.
(Photo: dpa)
If there is no agreement, the citizens’ allowance ends up in the mediation committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat. If at least the increase in the standard rates is not decided in November, the job centers could no longer implement them as planned on January 1st, warned Gröhe.
Dispute over housing benefit plus
There are also problems with the traffic light’s second major social reform, housing benefit plus. Due to rising energy and living costs, low-income households are to be supported with their housing costs. The state rental subsidy is to increase from an average of around 180 euros per month to around 370 euros on January 1st. There are also plans to increase the number of recipients from the current 600,000 to two million households. The federal and state governments share the costs, a total of 5.1 billion euros is at stake.
The intermediaries should give benefit recipients more freedom in the future.
(Photo: dpa)
But at the public hearing of the building committee of the Bundestag on Monday, it became clear that the goals of the law are welcomed by everyone, but experts see major problems in implementation. For example, the City Council and the Association of Towns and Municipalities warned of a “collapse of the housing benefit system”. If the IT procedures still to be programmed in the federal states do not run reliably, no housing benefit applications could be approved in the first weeks to months of 2023.
In addition, “even approximately sufficient” equipment with specialist staff is “under no circumstances achievable”. What Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) announced as the “biggest housing benefit reform in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany” threatens to become a “great disappointment”. The mood on site towards the officials is already characterized by “increasing impatience, incomprehension and aggression”.
Read more about the planned social reforms here
Specifically, cities and municipalities as well as the housing industry are calling for the provisional payment of housing benefit to be removed from the draft law. What the government had planned as unbureaucratic and quick help is criticized by the experts as double work.
Because the housing benefit authorities would have to “perform such thorough checks that they would almost be equivalent to a housing benefit approval,” writes the Haus & Grund association, which represents private landlords in Germany, in its statement. The provisional payment would only delay the processing of applications and tie up “personnel capacities in an ineffective manner”.
>> Read here: Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia attacks the government head-on: “The federal government is dishonest when it comes to housing benefit”
The Institute for Housing, Real Estate Management, Urban and Regional Development (InWIS) calculated: For up to 43 percent of German households, the housing cost burden is already above 40 percent of the disposable household income or they are at risk of slipping into this overload.
More: Up to 1742 euros for a family with two children – the state will pay this much in the future