CAF housing aid: who can get it in 2026, and how to apply

The rule changed this summer, and many students still don’t know. Read this before you apply: depending on your passport, the application may lead nowhere.

What is housing aid?

The CAF (Caisse d’allocations familiales, the French family benefits office) pays a monthly allowance that lowers your rent. For students it is almost always the APL (aide personnalisée au logement) or the ALS (allocation de logement sociale). You don’t choose: the CAF applies the one that matches your accommodation.

The amount depends on your rent, the city and your income. Nobody can tell you in advance. The only reliable figure comes from the simulator on caf.fr: run it before signing a lease.

Am I eligible?

Three details that matter:

• The scholarship must be a need-based French higher-education scholarship (the one from the Crous). An Erasmus+ grant or a grant from your home country does not count.
• Already receiving APL? If the new rule applies to you, your entitlement ended in July 2026.
• "Having a job": the decree sets no minimum number of hours and no minimum income. Declare your job to the CAF with your contract.

Accommodation conditions

• The lease is in your name. In a flatshare, your name is on the lease and each flatmate applies separately.
• It is your main residence: you live there at least 8 months a year, with some exceptions.
• The accommodation is decent (fit to live in).
• If you sublet, the owner must have been informed.
• No aid if the accommodation belongs to your parents or grandparents.
• Crous halls and student residences qualify: the aid is paid to the manager, who takes it off your rent.

Prepare your file

Gather these documents before you start, as PDFs or clear photos:

1. Your ID card or passport.
2. Your residence permit if you’re from outside the EU: your validated long-stay visa or your residence card.
3. Your birth certificate, in its original language, with a French translation if you have one.
4. Your bank details (RIB): an account in France or in a SEPA-zone country. Accounts outside the SEPA zone are refused.
5. Your lease, or the rent certificate filled in by your landlord. In a Crous residence, download the certificate from MesServices.etudiant.gouv.fr.
6. Your income over the last 12 months, in France and abroad.

EU student: also keep your certificate of enrolment and your European Health Insurance Card at hand.

Applying, step by step

1. On caf.fr, create your account and choose the housing aid application.
2. Describe your situation: studies, accommodation, rent, income.
3. Upload your documents in your "Mon compte" space or in the Caf – Mon compte app.
4. Track your file online. For a complete file, average processing time is about 36 days.

Apply as soon as you move in. Every month you wait is a month lost.

Once the aid is granted

• It is paid on the 5th of each month, usually to your landlord or residence, who deducts it from your rent.
• Report any change: moving out, new rent, a job, a new flatmate.
• Send your new residence permit or receipt (récépissé) as soon as you get it. Without a valid permit, payments stop.
• Your income is updated automatically every three months.

Other help with housing

• Visale: Action Logement’s free rent guarantee, which replaces the French guarantor you don’t have. Aged 18 to 30; for non-EU students, with a "student" visa or residence permit. In a city like Montpellier it covers rents up to €840.
• Avance Loca-Pass: an interest-free loan for your security deposit, up to €1,200, repaid over 25 months at most. For students: with a fixed-term contract or internship of at least three months, or a French government scholarship.
• Crous one-off aid: if you hit a rough patch, with or without a scholarship, international students included, after talking to a social worker.

Getting help in Montpellier

• CAF de l’Hérault: 139 avenue de Lodève, Celleneuve (tram 3). Appointments Monday to Friday, plus a self-service digital area with no appointment.
• SAIEC, the welcome desk for international students: 8 rue de l’École Normale, tram 1, Stade Philippidès stop. They help with the CAF, health insurance and residence permits.
• The CAF phone number: 3230.