In short and in plain language
A shared care flat is not a care home and not a private flat. Several people who need care live there together. Each person rents their own room.
Relatives often find this model hard to place. Your website should explain it clearly.
The article also shows how to present costs and funding on the page. Then families can do the sums first.
The page should also show the rooms, free places and dates for a visit.
We build the page for your shared care flat.
The shared care flat is the housing model that relatives are least likely to picture correctly. It is not a nursing home, not a private flat with a visiting care service, and not assisted living either. It sits between all three: several people who need care share one flat, everyone rents their own room, and the daily support is organised jointly. The market is large. At the end of 2023 almost 5.7 million people in Germany needed long-term care, 86 per cent of them were looked after at home, and only 14 per cent, or 800,000 people, lived in a nursing home (Federal Statistical Office). Anyone running a shared care flat is therefore addressing the far bigger group, and still meets the same opening question in every first call: is this a home? On top of that comes a funding story that hardly any website explains in full. Residents of a shared care flat receive a flat-rate allowance of 224 euros a month from the care fund (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI), founders can apply for one-off start-up funding, and since the rules were reordered there is a separate monthly allowance for shared housing that holds a care supply contract. This article shows how one page can do both jobs: describe the model so that it is clearly distinct from a home and from a private flat, and lay out the money so that a family can do the arithmetic before picking up the phone.
Key takeaways
- In German law a shared care flat is neither a nursing home nor an ordinary private flat. A website that fails to draw that line in three sentences spends every first conversation defining terms instead of understanding needs.
- The group living allowance is 224 euros a month per person in need of care and depends on four conditions that must all be met at once (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). A page quoting only the amount creates an expectation the application later disappoints.
- Founding a group attracts one-off funding of up to 2,613 euros per eligible person, capped at 10,452 euros per shared flat, to be applied for within one year of the conditions being met (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). That deadline belongs on the page.
- Alongside the allowance there is a flat-rate payment of 450 euros per calendar month for shared housing that holds a contract for nursing care (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). Which of the two applies is decided by the contractual set-up of the housing form.
- The cost comparison decides too: in a nursing home residents pay an average of 3,364 euros a month out of their own pocket in the first year (Association of Substitute Health Funds). A page without open arithmetic leaves that comparison to the imagination.
Why the shared flat needs explaining
The three familiar housing models explain themselves. Staying at home with a visiting care service is something most people have seen in their own street. Moving into a nursing home comes with a rough mental picture. Assisted living is a flat with a service contract. The shared care flat, by contrast, has no picture that everyone shares. Some relatives imagine a student flat with walking frames, others a small home without supervision. Neither is right, and both lead to conversations a good service page for the shared care flat would have settled in advance. The difference fits into one sentence: every resident rents their own room, the communal rooms are shared, the care service is chosen freely, and the support is organised jointly rather than dictated by an institution. That single sentence is the most important line on the whole page, and on most sites it does not appear until the fourth paragraph.
The numbers argue for the model. At the end of 2023, 86 per cent of people needing care were looked after at home and only 14 per cent, or 800,000 people, lived in a nursing home (Federal Statistical Office). A third of all people needing care, precisely 34 per cent, were at least 85 years old (Federal Statistical Office). At that age the person concerned rarely does the research. The website speaks to the daughter reading on her phone between two appointments, to the son comparing three providers in the evening, and to the legal guardian who needs a defensible answer for a file. Those three roles ask different questions but follow the same order: first what it is, then what it costs, then how to get in. Which content relatives actually look for can be read straight off the last few months of phone calls; usually it is a few recurring questions that any shared-flat page should answer first.
The numbers at a glance
The group living allowance and its four conditions
The allowance is the best known benefit around shared care flats and at the same time the one most often quoted in abbreviated form. It amounts to 224 euros a month per person in need of care and is paid on top of the care allowance or benefits in kind (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). That figure appears on many pages, and that is where those pages stop. What is missing are the four conditions that have to be met at the same time, because applications fail on exactly those. Spelling them out on your own service page for the shared flat saves the family a disappointment and saves you a long phone call. The four points work well as a checklist a family can run through in two minutes.
Size of the group
The person needing care lives with at least two and at most eleven further people in one shared flat, and at least two of them also need care (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). Three to twelve residents in total: above that the entitlement lapses, below it the jointly organised support is missing.
Care level and benefits drawn
The entitlement covers people who at the same time draw benefits in kind, the care allowance, a combination of both, or the relief amount; the care levels 2 to 5 named in the statute only qualify which benefits count (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). The allowance is paid at care level 1 as well: section 28a number 12 SGB XI expressly lists the additional benefits for people in shared care flats among the benefits at care level 1 (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). A care level on its own, without benefits actually being drawn, does not carry the allowance.
A jointly appointed person
The group must have jointly appointed a person who, independently of the individual nursing care, takes on organisational, administrative, supportive tasks or tasks that foster community life (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). This on-site coordinator is not a second nurse, and that is exactly what belongs on the page.
Notice before moving in
Before residents move in, the provider has to point out in a suitable manner that it does not deliver a scope of services comparable to a full inpatient facility (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). The website is the obvious place to prepare that notice and to document it.
Start-up funding: one-off, time-limited, capped
Anyone founding a new shared care flat can receive one-off start-up funding in addition to the grant for improvements to the living environment: up to 2,613 euros per eligible person for converting the shared flat to an age-appropriate or low-barrier standard, capped at 10,452 euros per group (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). The application has to be filed within one year of the conditions being met, and nationwide the entitlement ends as soon as total funding reaches 30 million euros (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). Three figures that no founding page should omit, and three figures a website keeps current far more easily than any printed material. If you are building a new group, this deserves its own subpage: it attracts enquiries from families who are not looking for a room at all but are planning a group of their own.
- State the amount and the cap side by side: up to 2,613 euros per eligible person, no more than 10,452 euros per shared flat (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI)
- Put the one-year deadline after the conditions are met where people can see it, rather than pushing it into a footnote (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI)
- Mention the nationwide ceiling of 30 million euros and add that the care fund can confirm the current position (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI)
- Place the grant for improvements to the living environment next to it: up to 4,180 euros per measure, and a combined 16,720 euros per measure where the flat is shared (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI)
- List the relief amount of up to 131 euros a month as the fourth pillar, because many groups fund their support offers from it (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI); the mechanics are set out in our piece on guide pages for the relief budget
- Name the responsible body for each item: care fund, the group itself, the landlord. Families stumble less over the amount than over the question of who actually files the application
The new benefit for shared housing
Since the rules were reordered, a second and considerably larger benefit sits alongside the group living allowance. People needing care who live in shared housing covered by a contract for nursing care receive a flat-rate payment of 450 euros per calendar month to secure self-determined care (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). Among other things, such a contract requires that more than two people in need of care live together for jointly organised nursing care and that the physical layout matches self-determined support (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). For the website this means there is no longer one number but two routes, and the reader needs guidance on which one applies to their situation.
Two points must come with it, otherwise information turns into a promise. First, these benefits expressly do not apply in facilities or premises within the meaning of the institutional rule of the social code (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). The line drawn against the nursing home therefore decides the entitlement, and anyone describing their model on the inpatient care page is describing a different legal position. Second, the nationwide recommendations on contract content and contract conditions are only due to be adopted by 1 January 2027 at the latest (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). Until then the picture keeps moving. The website is precisely the place where a provider can track the current position without a reprint. A carefully hedged formulation with the date of the last update underneath is more honest here than a table that suggests finality.
Self-governed or provider-run: state law has a say
What a website may claim about the housing model depends not only on federal social law but also on the residential care law of the individual state. Bavaria draws the line particularly clearly: for self-governed shared flats with outpatient support housing no more than twelve people in need of care or support, only part of the care and housing quality act applies (Bavarian State Chancellery, PfleWoqG). A flat counts as self-governed there only if the care or support services hold nothing more than guest status and in particular maintain no office space inside the flat or in close physical connection with it (Bavarian State Chancellery, PfleWoqG). A provider advertising its own office inside the shared flat may therefore be describing a different legal form than it intends. Other states regulate this in their own acts, and supervision lies with the state residential care authority. One short line naming the applicable state act is worth more on the page than three paragraphs of general description; which mandatory details belong next to it is set out in our piece on the legally sound care website.
What belongs on the shared-flat page
A floor plan, not stock imagery
A simple plan showing rooms, bathroom, kitchen and the shared area answers in seconds what is otherwise asked ten times by phone. Add the square metres per room, which way the windows face and whether there is an en-suite bathroom.
Occupancy with a date
Free rooms with the date they were last checked, not a vague statement. An occupancy figure three months old does more damage than none at all, because the first phone call disproves it and that costs trust.
The four conditions
Group size, care level with benefits drawn, the jointly appointed person and the notice before moving in, laid out as a checklist (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). A family can then see in two minutes whether the allowance is within reach.
The coordinator's actual tasks
What the jointly appointed person does, when they are present and what they expressly do not take on. Drawing that line prevents the expectation of round-the-clock nursing care.
A cost block in three parts
Show housing, household and care separately: rent with service charges, the household fund with food and consumables, the care contract with the own contribution. Only that separation makes the shared flat comparable with other offers.
Who decides what
Name the residents' committee, the relatives' round, the landlord and the care service with their roles. In a shared flat the group decides, and that is exactly what sets it apart from an institution.
Shared flat versus nursing home: the cost comparison families make
| Feature | Full inpatient nursing home | Shared flat with outpatient support |
|---|---|---|
| Care fund benefit | 805 to 2,096 euros a month depending on care level | benefits in kind of 796 to 2,299 euros a month |
| Additional flat rate | no comparable monthly flat rate | 224 euros group living allowance per month and person |
| Housing | a place in the facility | an individual tenancy agreement per room |
| Own contribution | 3,364 euros a month on average during the first year | rent, household fund and the care contribution shown separately |
| Organisation | the facility sets the framework | residents and relatives organise jointly |
| Founding | a decision of the operator | start-up funding of up to 2,613 euros per eligible person |
| Supervision | state residential care law in full | only in part, depending on state law |
This comparison is worth making because it is rarely made cleanly. For full inpatient care the fund pays between 805 and 2,096 euros a month depending on care level, and accommodation and meals are not included (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). In a shared flat the equivalent is benefits in kind of 796 to 2,299 euros depending on care level, plus the group living allowance of 224 euros (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI). Against that stands the own contribution in a home, which averages 3,364 euros a month during the first year and ranges from 2,891 euros in Saxony-Anhalt to 3,761 euros in Bremen (Association of Substitute Health Funds). Anyone putting those figures side by side on their own page should resist the temptation to flatter the arithmetic: in a shared flat, rent, service charges, the household fund and the coordinator's fee are added on top, and depending on the set-up the bottom line can land in similar territory. An honest calculation works better than a low one, because the family notices the difference at the latest when the contract arrives. A cost calculator on the website makes the items visible without promising an outcome, and delivers a qualified enquiry along the way.
Relatives read on a phone, the residents often not at all
The audience for this page is split in two, and that shapes the design. The decision is usually made within the family: 34 per cent of people needing care were at least 85 years old at the end of 2023 (Federal Statistical Office), and around one in ten of those aged 65 to 74 had still not used the internet in 2025 (Federal Statistical Office). So the reading is done mostly by the generation in between, often on the move and on a small screen. Even so, someone will later sit at the kitchen table holding a printout and trying to read it without glasses. Both together mean large type, high contrast, short paragraphs and a page that can be enlarged. That is exactly where most sites fail. Only 31 per cent of mobile sites meet the minimum requirements for colour contrast, and 19 per cent restrict or prevent zooming (HTTP Archive Web Almanac 2025). Building an accessible care website buys reading time at no extra effort; what that looks like in practice on a phone is covered in our piece on mobile optimisation for relatives.
Then there is the legal side. The German accessibility act applies to services provided to consumers after 28 June 2025, and electronic commerce is one of them (Federal Office of Justice, BFSG). For services, micro-enterprises are exempt, meaning businesses with fewer than ten employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than 2 million euros (Federal Office of Justice, BFSG). Many operators of shared flats sit above that line as soon as the outpatient service is counted in. Whatever the classification in the individual case, one practical sentence holds: a page that can be enlarged and has enough contrast is read to the end more often by this audience. If you want to reach families with another first language, the arguments are in our piece on the multilingual care website.
The sentence that separates the models
Eight weeks to a page that holds up
The work is manageable if it runs in stages and the facts are gathered properly once. The following sequence has proved itself with operators who run other offers alongside the shared flat, such as day care or an outpatient service. The only rule that matters is that every week ends with something visible rather than another internal document.
- Week 1: pin down the model. Number of rooms, number of residents needing care, the tenancy and contract structure, and whether the group is self-governed or provider-run
- Week 2: turn the four conditions of the group living allowance into a checklist and note for each point who produces the evidence (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI)
- Week 3: photograph the real rooms in daylight, have a floor plan drawn, and record square metres, window orientation and bathroom for each room
- Week 4: build the cost block in three parts, housing, household and care, and set the care fund benefits beside it, from the allowance of 224 euros to the relief amount of up to 131 euros (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI)
- Week 5: add a founding page if rooms for a new group are being created, covering start-up funding, the cap per group and the one-year deadline (Federal Office of Justice, SGB XI)
- Week 6: put the occupancy figure on the page with its date and name one person who maintains it; an outdated figure costs more trust than a missing one ever did
- Week 7: set up online appointment booking for viewings and structure the waiting list so that every enquiry receives a traceable response
- Week 8: check contrast, type size and zoom, proofread the page on a phone, and set up regional visibility
What comes out at the end is a page that answers three questions before they are asked: what kind of housing is this, what does the care fund contribute, and what is left for us to pay. Separating those three blocks cleanly shortens every first conversation and filters out enquiries that would were not going to fit anyway. The same principle carries other difficult subjects, from moving into a care home step by step to the case where the page has to work under pressure, during a heat warning or an out-of-hours outage. A shared care flat runs on trust that grows over months; the website is where that trust either starts or does not.
Sources and studies
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