As the rise in property prices and influx in urban areas continues, affordable housing is increasingly becoming a scarce commodity. The German housing allowance (so-called “Wohngeld”) represents one prominent measure of securing affordable housing as low-income households are eligible to receive rent subsidies subject to their place of residence and rent conditions. This paper aims to analyze the effects of the housing allowance on the affordability of renting units for transfer recipients. For this purpose, rent data is utilized to compute the rent burden before and after transfers of the housing allowance. The results indicate that the German housing allowance was effective in significantly reducing the rent burden for transfer recipients, particularly in dense regions in Germany.