Assistance to overcome particular social difficulties (social assistance)

Are you in social difficulties and are your participation in the life of society impaired? Then you are entitled to various offers of help that enable integration.

The service includes advice and personal support for beneficiaries and their relatives, in particular:

• Help to maintain a dwelling
• Assistance in finding accommodation
• Help to establish and maintain social relationships and to organize everyday life
• Help with violent living conditions
• Assistance for prisoners (temporary rental during detention)
• Assistance in case of release from a closed institution (prison, therapy facility, youth welfare institution)
• Advice on debt settlement and dealing with finances.

The advice is provided as personal help independent of income and assets.
This assistance is also provided to beneficiaries under SGB II.

Your local social welfare office.

The LWV Hessen is responsible as a supra-local social welfare provider for services in inpatient and semi-stationary facilities, assisted living facilities, specialist counselling centres and day care centres.

Please contact the social welfare office of your district or independent city.

• Application for benefits to overcome special social difficulties under SGB XII (social assistance)
• valid identity documents or proof of identity
• The scope of the documents required for the consultation depends on the specifics of the individual case.
• Appropriate documentation on the special living conditions. This may also require proof of income and assets.

According to §§ 67 to 69 of Book XII of the Social Code, anyone who has found himself in particularly difficult living conditions and cannot overcome them on his own is entitled to assistance. The particularly difficult living conditions or social difficulties must be clearly distinguished from the general life crises such as unemployment, illness, partnership problems and the like by a particular degree of severity. Difficult living conditions can be, for example:

• An insecure economic livelihood
• Non-existent housing or inadequate housing conditions
• Violent living conditions
• Release from a closed institution
• Comparable adverse circumstances

If you do not agree with the decision of the authority, you can appeal against it in the form of an objection. The objection must be submitted within one month after you have been notified of the administrative act in writing, in electronic form in accordance with § 36a paragraph 2 of the First Book of the Social Code or for transcription to the body that issued the administrative act. If the authority considers your objections to be well-founded, your objection will be rectified. This is done by cancelling or amending the initial decision or by granting your application. Otherwise, it shall issue a notice of opposition.

If the objection is unsuccessful, you can bring an action before the social court. Here, too, the period of one month after you have received the notice of objection applies.

A written application shall be submitted to the competent authority. The easiest way is to go to the authority with the necessary documents and fill out the application there as part of a consultation.

The deadlines set by the social welfare office for the submission of documents must be observed. If this is not possible for understandable reasons, you must apply for an extension of the deadline. Otherwise, the social welfare office may refuse you the benefit due to non-compliance with your legal obligations to cooperate.

The processing time depends on the individual case.

There are no fees.