Finding professional housing advice

When converting your home, it is advisable to seek expert help. This applies not just in the case of structural alterations, but also to the targeted use of aids – from raised toilet seats and grip handles, to fitting lifts on stairs and in baths. As conditions differ from home to home, an on-site check should be carried out to determine what makes sense and what is both possible and needed in your specific case. Information and advice on age-appropriate home conversions can be obtained from the following organisations:

  • Your municipal authority, housing advice office (Wohnberatungsstelle), social services (Sozialamt) and housingoffice (Wohnungsamt)
  • Church and independent welfare associations
  • Chamber of Crafts & Trades (Handwerkskammer)
  • Health insurance funds (Krankenkassen), long-term care support centres (Pflegestützpunkten)
  • Home-care services (Pflegediensten) or welfare centres (Sozialstationen)

In addition to the points of contact listed above, there are also more than 200 dedicated housing advice centres located across Germany. The Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Wohnungsanpassung e. V. (a German Federal working group which promotes independent living for older people and people with disabilities) can give you information on competent housing advice centres located near where you live.

Housing advisors are knowledgeable about the various technical and structural alterations that can be made, and they can also offer help with issues such as financing and long-term care. Many housing advice centres help with applications to funding agencies and recommend suitable tradespeople and firms in the area where you live. They are usually networked with other services so they can provide the broadest possible range of advice. Professional housing advice centres also offer an outreach service and can arrange for an adviser to visit you in your home. This has the advantage that the adviser gets a first-hand impression of the current condition of your home, its layout and how it is equipped. You will receive more customised and targeted advice as a result.

The Lower Saxony State Housing Advice Centre (Niedersächsische Fachstelle für Wohnberatung) offers this kind of advice service in the home and has trained more than 800 employed and voluntary housing advisers in Hannover and further afield. Some senior citizens’ advice centres (Seniorenbüros) also offer mobile housing advice.

Many housing companies are already responding to the needs of ageing tenants by offering advisory services and introducing housing conversion programmes.

Tip:

You can also use the following website to find a professional housing advice centre near you
www.wohnungsanpassung-bag.de

Other housing advice centres are listed on the website of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia Working Group on Housing Advice (Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Wohnberatung Nordrhein-Westfalen)
www.wohnberatungsstellen.de/hintergruende/lag-wohnberatung-nrw