In brief

  • Adults with a severe, marked or moderate degree of disability who leave public residential centres, as well as those at risk of institutionalisation, may receive a monthly housing benefit equal to one national gross minimum wage and a transition benefit of no more than two gross minimum wages, paid by the general directorates for social assistance and child protection.
  • The money is not handed over as a fixed sum paid into an account: payment is made monthly, at the actual value of the previous month’s expenses, against invoices. Failure to submit the invoices, or failure to pay them, suspends the entitlement, and their absence for three months in a row brings it to an end.
  • The decision entered into force on publication, on 28 July 2026, but the Bucharest Court of Appeal suspended its enforcement two days later, on 30 July 2026, at the request of the PSD, pending the ruling on the action for annulment. The procedure remains in force as a text, but it does not apply while the suspension lasts.
Act: Government Decision no. 569/2026
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 614 of 28 July 2026
In force from: 28 July 2026

Adults with disabilities who are leaving public residential centres, or who risk ending up in one, have had since the end of July a written procedure through which they can claim money for housing: one gross minimum wage a month for maintenance and utilities, plus up to two minimum wages, once only, for the move itself. Government Decision no. 569/2026, published on Tuesday in the Official Gazette of Romania, implements two articles of Law no. 448/2006 that had promised these amounts as far back as 2023 but had been left without a procedure. It is the second major housing support measure adopted this summer, after the „Lift for Life” programme, which funds the installation of lifts in older blocks of flats.

The two benefits are not new as an idea. They were introduced into Law no. 448/2006 on the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities by Law no. 7/2023 on supporting the deinstitutionalisation process, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 19 of 6 January 2023, as articles 202 and 203. Both articles say the same thing in their final paragraph: the procedure for granting the payments, together with the situations in which the entitlement is suspended, amended or ended, is to be approved by Government decision. That decision has appeared only now.

In the meantime, the text of the law has changed twice more. Government Emergency Ordinance no. 90/2025, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 1218 of 31 December 2025, amended both articles, and Law no. 146/2026, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 588 of 20 July 2026, added a new paragraph to article 202, extending the housing benefit to people who leave community-based assisted living services for independent living. The present decision sits on top of this version of the law.

On 28 August the procedure was repealed and rewritten as an annex to Law no. 7/2023, and the 30 June 2026 deadline was deleted.

What it changes in practice

Who can claim the money. The housing benefit is aimed at two categories, dealt with separately in the decision. The first is people classified as having a severe, marked or moderate degree of disability who leave public residential centres and enter deinstitutionalisation and community integration measures, apart from those who move into community-based assisted living services for independent living. The second is people with the same degrees of disability who are at risk of institutionalisation, and here the decision expressly includes those who receive assisted living services. The transition benefit goes only to people leaving residential centres.

When people are moved from a public centre straight into a private one, the support takes another form: an emergency aid equal to 90% of the cost standard, paid to the centre that takes them in.

How much is paid. The housing benefit is a monthly allowance worth one national gross minimum wage, while the transition benefit has a maximum value of two national gross minimum basic wages guaranteed in payment. Both are ceilings, not guaranteed amounts: for each of them the decision repeats the formula „within the maximum value corresponding to it, on the basis of supporting documents”.

Payment is made against invoices, one month in arrears. This is the point that most changes what the entitlement looks like in practice. Article 7 paragraph (6) of the procedure states that payment is made monthly „at the actual value of the expenses incurred in the previous month, on the basis of the supporting documents submitted”. The beneficiary therefore pays first out of their own pocket and only afterwards receives the equivalent, up to the limit of one minimum wage. The documents required for payment are the service supply contract, the invoices issued in the previous month attesting payment for a public utility service, and the invoices for the goods or services bought.

Which utilities are reimbursed. The decision refers to Law no. 51/2006 on community public utility services and lists four items: water supply and sewerage, electricity, natural gas and waste collection. If the person cannot conclude a supply contract on their own, the expenses are calculated in proportion to the undivided share.

Administrative deadlines. The report assessing individual needs for community living is drawn up within no more than 10 days of the application being registered. The order granting the entitlement is issued within no more than 20 days of the application being registered and is communicated within 5 days of issue, and payment is made within 5 working days of the order being issued. Separately, the payment order is issued within 10 days of the granting order and is communicated within a further 5 days.

The transition benefit has its own time window. It can be claimed within the first 12 months from the date on which the residential social service ends, and up to 60 days before that date. For emergency or crisis situations arising in the first 12 months after integration into the community, an application may still be submitted, but no later than 30 days after the situation occurs.

One piece is still missing. A person at risk of institutionalisation is identified on the basis of a methodology for assessing individual needs for community living, which is to be approved by order of the President of the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities within 45 days of the decision entering into force, that is, by around 11 September 2026. Until that order is published, the second category of beneficiaries is left without the instrument that is supposed to identify them.

The suspension ordered by the court. On 30 July 2026, two days after publication, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ordered the suspension of enforcement of this decision, along with five other Government decisions, in the cases brought by the Social Democratic Party, which also sought their annulment. The suspension lasts until the actions for annulment are ruled on at first instance. The Government has publicly announced that it will lodge an appeal. The act has not been repealed and has not been struck down by a final judgment, but for as long as the suspension lasts the authorities cannot enforce it.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

Until 28 July 2026, the two benefits existed only as an entitlement stated in the law. Articles 202 and 203 of Law no. 448/2006 said who could receive the money and how much, but referred, for the procedure, to a Government decision that had never been adopted. In its absence, the general directorates for social assistance and child protection had no document to rely on when issuing an order granting the entitlement, no list of required papers, no deadlines and no list of the cases in which payment stops.

What the decision adds is exactly that part: the list of ten documents accompanying the application, the model application form and the model order, the deadlines for issuing and communicating them, the five situations of suspension and the six of termination, together with the rule of monthly reimbursement against invoices. The application is submitted to the county general directorate for social assistance and child protection, or to the one of the Bucharest sector, covering the person’s domicile or residence, and if both benefits are claimed a single application is filled in.

The second change concerns the continuity of the entitlement when the beneficiary moves. If the person changes their domicile or residence to the area of another directorate, the entitlement ends at the old directorate, but the file is transferred: the beneficiary must give notice within no more than 5 days, the old directorate sends a copy of the file and the termination order within 5 days, and the new directorate issues a payment order within 10 days, on the basis of a new application. It is the only mechanism in the text that links the two stages, so that the entitlement is not lost when someone moves.

Finally, the decision also settles the situation in which the beneficiary dies: the amounts due for the month in which the death occurred may be used to cover housing expenses, on the basis of supporting documents.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • An entitlement that had existed since 2023 only on paper becomes applicable: without a procedure, the social assistance directorates could not issue orders granting it.
  • The deadlines are clearly written and they are short: 10 days for the assessment report, 20 days for the granting order, 5 working days for payment.
  • A single application covers both benefits, and the model form is published as an annex, so it does not depend on a form invented locally by each directorate.
  • Moving to another county no longer means losing the entitlement: the file is transferred between directorates, with fixed deadlines for every step.
  • People at risk of institutionalisation also fall within the scope of the housing benefit, which turns the measure from one about leaving an institution into one that also prevents entry into it.
  • The death of the beneficiary does not automatically block that month’s expenses, which can be covered out of the amount due.

What remains a problem

  • Payment is made in arrears, against invoices that have already been paid. The person needs money of their own for the first month of utilities, which is difficult precisely for someone leaving a residential centre with no savings.
  • Failure to submit the invoices, or failure to pay them, leads straight to suspension of the entitlement, and their absence for three consecutive months leads to termination, with no intermediate warning mechanism written into the procedure.
  • The assessment methodology for people at risk of institutionalisation does not exist yet. It is to be approved by order of the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities within 45 days of entry into force.
  • Enforcement of the decision has been suspended by the Bucharest Court of Appeal since 30 July 2026, two days after publication, which leaves beneficiaries with an uncertainty that has nothing to do with the text of the act.
  • The amounts are tied to the gross minimum wage, but the decision says nothing about applications already under way when the reference value changes, beyond the general rule that a new order is issued and payment is made at the new level from the following month.
  • The number of documents required at submission is large, ten items, among them the social investigation, the individual rehabilitation and social integration programme and the individual independent living plan, documents that depend on other institutions.
  • Financing from non-reimbursable external funds is provided „within the limits of the sums allocated”, a formula that does not guarantee payment if the funds run out.

Practical advice

  1. If you are about to leave a residential centre, ask your case manager to start the assessment of individual needs for community living before you go. The transition benefit can also be claimed up to 60 days before the date on which the residential service ends.
  2. Submit a single application if you want both benefits. Article 7 paragraph (3) of the procedure states expressly that in this situation only one application for granting is filled in.
  3. Keep every utility invoice and proof of payment, month by month. Payment is made at the actual value of the previous month’s expenses, and missing invoices, or failure to pay them, is grounds for suspending the entitlement.
  4. Notify the general directorate for social assistance and child protection within no more than 5 days of any change that may affect payment: expiry of the disability certificate, change of legal representative, expiry of the service supply contract, moving house.
  5. Check that the certificate or the decision classifying the degree of disability is still valid before you submit the application. Its expiry suspends payment until the new document is obtained.
  6. If you live with other people and cannot conclude the utility contracts on your own, ask for the calculation in proportion to the undivided share, provided for in article 5 paragraph (3) of the procedure.
  7. If you move to another county or another sector, notify the directorate that established your entitlement within 5 days and submit an application to the new directorate. Without that new application, the payment order for your new address is not issued.
  8. The directorate’s order can be challenged within 30 days of communication, under Law no. 554/2004 on administrative litigation, as the model order in annex no. 2 provides.
  9. Watch for the publication of the order of the National Authority for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on the assessment methodology. Access for people at risk of institutionalisation depends on it.
  10. Check the status of the suspension ordered by the court before you submit the application. While enforcement is suspended, the directorates cannot apply the decision.

Frequently asked questions

How much do I actually receive each month for housing?
At most the equivalent of one national gross minimum wage, but not automatically the whole amount. Payment is made at the actual value of the expenses incurred in the previous month, on the basis of the invoices submitted, within that ceiling.
Is the transition benefit paid only once?
It is an amount of no more than two national gross minimum basic wages guaranteed in payment, for the costs of leaving the residential centre and settling into the community. It can be claimed within the first 12 months after the residential service ends and up to 60 days before that date. For emergency or crisis situations in the first 12 months, the application is submitted within no more than 30 days of the situation occurring.
Where do I submit the application?
To the county general directorate for social assistance and child protection, or to the local one of the Bucharest sector, covering the area where you have your domicile or residence. The model application is annex no. 1 to the procedure.
What documents do I have to attach?
Ten: the application, the assessment report, the sworn statement on the living space held, the certificate or decision classifying the degree of disability, still within its period of validity, the individual rehabilitation and social integration programme, the individual independent living plan or the individual support plan, the social investigation, the document attesting the right of ownership or of use, the document appointing the legal representative where applicable, and the bank account statement.
Which utilities are reimbursed?
Water supply and sewerage, electricity, natural gas and waste collection, under Law no. 51/2006 on community public utility services. If you cannot conclude the contracts on your own, the expenses are calculated in proportion to the undivided share.
In what situations does payment stop?
It is suspended in five cases: the death or withdrawal of the legal representative, expiry of the disability certificate, expiry of the service supply contract, failure to submit the invoices each month and failure to pay them. It ends in six cases, among them a request from the beneficiary, taking up domicile abroad, the absence of invoices for three consecutive months, death and a final judgment.
What happens if I move to another county?
The entitlement ends at the directorate that established it, but the file is transferred. You must give notice within no more than 5 days, the old directorate sends a copy of the file and the termination order within 5 days, and the new directorate issues a payment order within 10 days, on the basis of your application.
Does the decision apply right now?
The text entered into force on publication, on 28 July 2026, but the Bucharest Court of Appeal suspended its enforcement on 30 July 2026, at the request of the PSD, pending the first-instance ruling on the action for annulment. While the suspension lasts, the authorities cannot apply the decision. The Government has announced that it will lodge an appeal.
Where does the money come from?
From the state budget or from non-reimbursable external funds. In the external funds version, financing is provided by the general directorates for social assistance and child protection, within the limits of the sums allocated and in compliance with the eligibility rules set out in European Commission decisions.
Can I challenge a refusal or the amount set?
Yes. The model order in annex no. 2 provides that the act can be challenged within 30 days of communication, under Law no. 554/2004 on administrative litigation.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 614 of 28 July 2026 16 pages PDF, 121 KB the act starts on page 4

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.