Administrative procedures are slowly being modernized, and one of the most widespread financial aids in France will become easier to obtain. Good news for millions of beneficiaries!
Exchanges with public administrations are sometimes laborious and often a source of frustration. One point in particular crystallizes the tensions of users, the fact of having to transmit the same information and documents multiple times to different institutions. To remedy this recurring problem, the Government has embarked on a process of simplifying data exchanges between administrations, in order to facilitate citizens’ procedures.
Good news, one of the most used financial support mechanisms in France has just benefited from this administrative “optimization”: personal housing assistance. They bring together three different schemes, Personalized Housing Assistance (APL) which is the best known, as well as the Family Housing Allowance (ALF) and the Social Housing Allowance (ALS).
These three aids are paid each year to several million people, for substantial amounts. In 2023 for examplethey affected 5.1 million households, for an average monthly amount ranging from €207 to €322 depending on the system. They are paid either by the Family Allowance Fund (CAF) or by the Mutualité Sociale Agricole (MSA), and are allocated to eligible households upon presentation of an application accompanied by a certain number of supporting documents.
And it is precisely the list of these parts which has just been reduced by a decree of November 5, 2024and which came into force on November 17. These new rules now replace the previous texts (decrees of August 22, 1986, December 23, 2002 and February 14, 2013) which had “become obsolete, in particular due to the automatic recovery of certain information already declared by applicants or beneficiaries to other administrations.
Under the terms of the new decree, applicants for personal housing assistance must therefore provide: a statement of the people living in the household, a copy of both sides of an identity card or passport, a declaration of assets if this is greater than €30,000, a certificate from the owner justifying the use, surface area and decency of the accommodation, a bank identity statement and, for people accommodated by their employer, a certificate of payroll mentioning deduction on salary.
These new supporting documents are therefore due from November 17, 2024, both for initial requests and requests for renewal of personal housing assistance. Thus, it is no longer necessary to send your tax notice to the CAF or the MSA, these organizations collecting these documents directly from the tax services. One exception, however: requests made to Saint Pierre and Miquelon must always be accompanied by the tax notice.