There are three main housing options for people who need care: the Pflegeheim (care home), the Pflege-Wohngemeinschaft or Pflege-WG (shared care flat) and Betreutes Wohnen (assisted living). They differ greatly in who carries the responsibility, what the Pflegekasse (long-term care insurance fund) pays and how much you can decide for yourself. This comparison will help you find the right option – and shows where you can get free advice.

Details

Many families in Berlin and Brandenburg suddenly face the question: can care continue at home – and if not, what comes next? The answer is rarely clear-cut, because the three housing options follow quite different logics. The Landespflegeplan Berlin 2025 (Berlin's state care plan) expressly states that these differences are “not readily familiar” – even though they determine costs, rights and everyday life.

Full inpatient care (Pflegeheim)

In a Pflegeheim the provider carries overall responsibility: accommodation, meals, supervision and nursing care come from a single source, around the clock. This is the safest solution where care needs are high and fluctuating – and the one with the least self-determination in everyday life.

The Pflegekasse pays a fixed contribution towards the care-related costs (as at 2026, unchanged since 1.1.2025):

• Pflegegrad 2 (care grade 2): 805 € a month
• Pflegegrad 3: 1.319 € a month
• Pflegegrad 4: 1.855 € a month
• Pflegegrad 5: 2.096 € a month

Everything beyond that – above all accommodation, meals and investment costs – you pay yourself. The Leistungszuschlag under § 43c SGB XI (benefit supplement) is important: it reduces your own share of the care-related costs, namely by 15 % in the first year, 30 % from the 13th month, 50 % from the 25th month and 75 % from the 37th month in the home. So those who stay a long time pay proportionally much less.

Shared care flat (Pflege-Wohngemeinschaft, Pflege-WG)

In a Pflege-WG, three to twelve people usually live together in a shared flat. Legally this is outpatient care: every resident has their own tenancy agreement and their own contract with a care service. The outpatient benefits therefore apply – that is Pflegegeld (cash care allowance, 347 € to 990 €) or Pflegesachleistung (care benefits in kind, 796 € to 2.299 € depending on the Pflegegrad, as at 2026) – plus the Wohngruppenzuschlag of 224 € a month (shared-housing supplement, § 45f SGB XI; until the end of 2025 this was § 38a SGB XI).

Berlin has the highest density of shared care flats in Germany: 773 Pflege-Wohngemeinschaften with around 6.081 places (Landespflegeplan Berlin 2025, pp. 82–83). You can read more about this in the article Shared care flats in Berlin and Brandenburg.

Assisted living (Betreutes Wohnen, Service-Wohnen)

Betreutes Wohnen is initially nothing more than your own, usually largely barrier-free, rented flat with an additional support contract. The “basic service” included is often small: an emergency call system, a contact person, referral to other services. Care is not automatically part of it – if needed, it is added through an outpatient care service, exactly as in your own flat.

The term is not protected in law. So check carefully which services are included in the monthly support flat rate and which cost extra.

The most important difference: who is liable, who supervises?

In Berlin the Wohnteilhabegesetz (WTG) (the state act on housing and participation) governs the requirements for care homes and for provider-run Pflege-WGs; the care home inspectorate sits at the Landesamt für Gesundheit und Soziales (LAGeSo). In Brandenburg the Brandenburgisches Pflege- und Betreuungswohngesetz (BbgPBWoG) applies, and the “Aufsicht für unterstützende Wohnformen” (inspectorate for supported housing) is based at the Landesamt für Soziales und Versorgung (LASV).

Rule of thumb: the more responsibility lies with the provider, the stronger the state supervision – and the less you have to organise yourself. Self-organised WGs are the freest, but they require an active committee of relatives or residents.

What to do?

1. Assess the need honestly. How much help is needed at night? Is there a tendency to wander, is ventilation needed, are there severe changes in behaviour? Where help is needed at night, many forms of Betreutes Wohnen are ruled out in practice.
2. Clarify the Pflegegrad. Without Pflegegrad 2 there is neither Pflegesachleistung nor a contribution towards care home costs. If no application is under way yet, make it first.
3. Work out the costs realistically. For each housing option, set rent/accommodation, meals, support flat rate and care costs side by side and deduct the Pflegekasse benefits. Ask expressly what your own share will be in euros per month.
4. Separate the contracts and check them. In a WG and in Betreutes Wohnen, the tenancy agreement, the support contract and the care contract should be terminable separately. Do not let yourself be tied to a particular care service if that can be avoided.
5. View at least two homes – if possible unannounced and at a normal time of day (late afternoon, for example). Ask about staffing levels, night duty and how many residents one night nurse looks after.
6. Is your income not enough? Then look into “Hilfe zur Pflege” (means-tested help with care costs) at the Sozialamt (social welfare office). The application is almost always worth it if your own share exceeds your pension.
7. Document the decision. Put in writing what has been promised – verbal promises at the front door are hard to enforce later.

Where to find help

• Pflegestützpunkte (care support points) give advice on all housing options free of charge, independently and without ties to any provider – at 36 locations in Berlin, and in Brandenburg through the regional Pflegestützpunkte. Find an advice centre near you.
• Compare facilities: in the pcbb directory you can filter by service type (full inpatient care, Pflege-WG, Betreutes Wohnen), district, language and specialisation – dementia or culturally sensitive care, for example. Go to the directory.
• Information evenings and groups for relatives on housing options and care home contracts can be found in the calendar: View dates.
• Complaints and questions of quality: the care home inspectorate in Berlin (LAGeSo) or the Aufsicht für unterstützende Wohnformen at the LASV in Brandenburg.

All amounts: as at 30.07.2026. The long-term care insurance benefit rates were last raised on 1.1.2025 and remain unchanged in 2026. Sources: SGB XI; Landespflegeplan Berlin 2025.