CAF et les aides au logement: When the government helps you pay your rent!

Would you be able to imagine that the government pays for part of your rent? Well, it's possible in France!

Here in France, something called CAF: Caisse d’Allocations Familiales exists. It is the governmental organisation in charge of negotiating economic support that the state gives. One of them is just "aides au logement" (in Spanish: housing aids).

Although the official names of the support are aide personnalisée au logement” (APL) or “allocation logement à caractère social” (ALS), everyone refers to them as CAF (even though it is really the name of the organization of administration, like I have said before).

Photo from the office of CAF du Rhône in Lyon. It is near to the Part Dieu station a few steps away.

As the name indicates, thanks to this support, you receive a monthly subsidy that serves to pay a part of the amount of the rent of the place that you are living. However, one must pay attention to the dates and the procedure for doing the application, on the papers that they ask you to complete your file (even more so being exchange students) and this is clear in the conditions of allocation.

What is certain, before you get excited, foreign students whose visa mentions "Dispense titre de séjour" (Exemption of residence permit), unfortunately, cannot pick up the CAF. Nor can you do the application because this type of VISA will not be assigned help :/

How much money will I receive?

The grant amount varies between 40 euros and up to 175 euros, 200 euros. The criteria to determine how much you will receive is quite complex because each case is analyzed individually and is unique: it depends on your income, your place of residence, the amount of your income, and so on. However, on the CAF website, you can do an application simulation to get a first idea of how much more or less you can receive.

The procedure

How does it work? When do I apply?

Once you have found accommodation you have to apply for CAF as soon as possible. You have to do it as quickly as possible since this help is not retroactive. This means that they will start paying you taking into account the date on which you made your request and not according to when you entered the accommodation in question.

That is, if for example you moved to your apartment in September but you let the months go by and you left your request to the CAF until December... big mistake! You will have lost months of CAF and you will not be able to claim them :/

So if you occupy accommodation in September, make your request in that same month; )

Another characteristic: CAF never pays the first month, but the financial aid starts from the second. Example: you moved in September and made your request in the same month. They will start paying you only from the month of October.

Ah, another thing: the payment is always made on the fifth day of each month and is done to "terme échu". That means that the payment of the month in question is made until the next. Example: the month of October, you will be paid until the beginning of November; In November, you will receive it until December. And so on ^^

If for some reason you have to go directly to the CAF, as of June of this year they implemented a dating system. No, do not think that you will be introduced to someone at the CAF with whom to go out to dinner romantically in the evening: p It means that if they have to clarify any matter personally, they have to make an appointment on the CAF website. The last time I went, they sorted me pretty quickly. I remember when I went before they put that dating system... and I had to wait like almost an hour waiting for my turn! :O

Well... I must confess that this last time I went, my appointment was at 3:45 p. m..... I arrived five minutes late! >

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