🔑 Finding housing as a single parent
In brief
When looking for housing, single parents often experience disadvantages: lower household income, landlords' worries about noise or missed payments. Legally, however, you still have rights and tools that can make the search easier – from social housing with a housing entitlement certificate to protection against discrimination.
For publicly subsidised housing (social housing) you need a housing entitlement certificate (Wohnberechtigungsschein, WBS), which you apply for at your municipality. The income limits for it are set by each federal state itself.
Step by step
- Apply for a housing entitlement certificateApply to your municipality for a WBS if your income is below the limit set by state law – for single parents, more favourable allowances per child apply in many federal states.
- Ask about municipal priority programmesAsk the housing office whether there is a priority or points system for single parents in the allocation of social housing – this is regulated differently from municipality to municipality.
- Prepare your applicationHave proof of income, a certificate of no rent arrears (if available) and, if applicable, a credit report ready.
- Recognise and report discriminationIf a flat is recognisably refused to you because of your family status, check for a claim under the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) – advice is offered by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes).
- Consider subletting as a transitionIn acute housing need, a permitted subletting of a room can be a transitional solution – the landlord must consent (§ 553 BGB).
Deadlines
- Protection against discrimination under the AGG applies only to a limited extent in housing rental: if the landlord lets no more than 50 flats in total, only the general ban on disadvantage in § 19 Abs. 1 AGG (e.g. because of religion, age, sexual identity or belief) falls away – a large share of private landlords thus fall outside this scope. The special protection against disadvantage because of race or ethnic origin under § 19 Abs. 2 AGG, by contrast, applies regardless of the number of flats let (§ 19 Abs. 5 AGG).
- Marital status or the number of children is not an expressly protected characteristic in the AGG itself – protection against discrimination in practice usually comes into consideration only via other characteristics (e.g. sex) or via municipal/state anti-discrimination law.
- The income limits for the housing entitlement certificate are not uniform nationwide but are set by each federal state itself – get concrete information from your state or municipal authority.
- Priority for single parents in social housing does not exist automatically everywhere – whether and how heavily such a criterion is weighted is regulated differently by municipality.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Civil-law ban on discrimination (§ 19 AGG)
The AGG prohibits discrimination, among other things on grounds of sex, in civil-law mass transactions (§ 19 Abs. 1 AGG), which in principle can also include housing rental. However, the legislature allows different treatment in housing rental in order to create "socially stable resident structures" and "balanced economic, social and cultural conditions", and expressly exempts landlords with no more than 50 flats in total from the scope of this general ban on discrimination as a mass transaction (§ 19 Abs. 5 AGG, gesetze-im-internet.de, retrieved September 2026). For the majority of small private landlords, this wider protection (e.g. because of age, religion or sexual identity) therefore does not in practice apply. Notwithstanding this, the special protection against disadvantage because of race or ethnic origin under § 19 Abs. 2 AGG applies regardless of the number of flats let.
Housing entitlement certificate and social housing support
The legal basis for social housing is the federal Housing Promotion Act (Wohnraumförderungsgesetz), which leaves the design to the federal states. The specific income limits and any child allowances for the WBS are regulated by each federal state through its own housing promotion provisions; there is no nationwide uniform figure.
Subletting as a transitional solution
If you wish to sublet a room temporarily or yourself live as a subtenant, subletting by the main tenant in principle requires the landlord's permission (§ 553 BGB); where there is a legitimate interest (e.g. financial relief), there may be a claim to permission.
A question about your situation that this page does not answer? Write to us or use the contact form – we will tell you which office is responsible and what to bring. Free of charge, without individual legal advice.