Housing Allowance and Rent: 1983 Report

摘要

This report examines the trend in rents for housing and the implementation of the West German Housing Allowance Act. From 1980 to 1982, the expenditures for housing allowances increased 46 percent. The housing allowance contributionwas 28 percent higher per receiving household. The number of housing allowance recipients remained about the same. Recipients tended to be unemployed, elderly, and/or residing in households of one or two persons. Payments to gainfully employed individuals fell 12 percent, while contributions to the unemployed rose 22 percent. Rents rose in 1982, but efforts to economize within the government prevented expansion of the program. The ratio of housing allowance contributions to rents fell slightly, to about one-third. The cost of living rose faster than did the cost for renting, according to Federal index figures, which indicated a 3.5-percent difference. Rents vary over different parts of the market, with apartments in older buildings rising faster than those in newer buildings. In 1982, the overall increase in rents was 4.5 percent. Three figures, 15 attachments, and 23 tables are provided.