Ministry presents rent subsidy scheme

 



(CS/mig) The Housing Ministry on Wednesday unveiled a new rent subsidy scheme for low-income households, which is hoped to help battle the housing crisis in the country.

Housing State Secretary Marc Hansen explained that some 19,000 households would benefit from the programme. Applicants need to fulfil three conditions:

 
  • Applicants need to come from a low-income household (“ménage a faible revenu”). A single-person household with a maximum monthly net income 1,768 euros is eligible. This sum increases to a maximum of 2,652 in a household with no children. Households with one child are considered low-income with a maximum monthly net income of 3,183 euros. For two children this amount the amount that families can earn is raised to 3,713 euros and with three children to 4,244 euros.

     
  • Households need to be currently spending at least a third of their disposable income on rent.
     
  • Applicants cannot live in a state-subsidised home but need to have rented privately.
The draft law for the rent subsidy scheme was first proposed by former Housing Minister Marco Schank, but has since been reviewed by the current governmen

Two major changes were made:
  • Recipients of the RMG minimum guaranteed income will see their “complément loyer”, paid out of the National Solidarity Fund, replaced with the new rent subsidy.
  • The funds received by households were increased, for a single-person household, for example, from 70 to 124 euros.

Overview of subsidy payments


The amounts stated below represent the maximum amount eligible applicants will be able to receive per month.

  • Single-person household: 124 euros
  • Household without children: 124 euros
  • Household – 1 child: 149 euros
  • Household – 2 children: 174 euros
  • Household – 3 children: 199 euros
  • Household – 4 children: 224 euros
  • Household – 5 children: 248 euros
  • Household – 6 or more children: 273 euros
The new rent subsidy scheme will be introduced at the earliest on January 1, 2016, Hansen explained, at a cost of around 20 million euros per year.


The income brackets to quality as a low-income household, as well as the sums paid out by the state, will be regularly reviewed and adjusted, Hansen added.