A housing and energy 5.3 billion euros PLAN announced by the Greek government, aimed at helping vulnerable households cut energy costs and accelerate the country’s green transition, may not be enough to unlock renovations at scale, researchers argue.
Funded by the EU’s Social Climate Fund and expected to begin implementation within the year, the package includes support for home renovations, heat pumps, solar water heaters and social housing, targeting around 1.5 million households.
A central pillar of the Greek plan is the expansion of “Exoiconomo” renovation scheme, which will subsidize insulation work, window replacement and other efficiency improvements.
However, findings from EU funding LOCATE project suggests that solving energy poverty in multi-apartment cities like Piraeus requires more than funding. Aging buildings, fragmented ownership and weak governance at the building level continue to slow down renovation efforts, even where financial support exists.
Old buildings, inefficient houses
Piraeus, one of Greece’s most densely populated municipalities and home to the country’s main port, is dominated by the “polykatoikia” model – reinforced concrete apartment blocks built mostly between the 1960s and mid-1980s, before Greece introduced thermal building regulations.
LOCATE discovery show that about 72 percent of the city’s buildings were built before 1985. The city contains approximately 16,500 multi-apartment buildings, with apartments averaging about 76 square meters.
The project’s preliminary analysis estimates that about 28 percent of apartments in multi-apartment buildings – approximately 13,552 units out of 48,405 analyzed – are likely to be exposed to energy poverty The Risks.
Energy performance data reveals widespread inefficiencies. About 96 percent of apartments in multi-apartment buildings belong to EPC class C or lower, while only four percent achieve classes A+, A, B or B+.
Heating systems remain heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Diesel boilers account for about 62 percent of apartment heating systems, while central heating is absent in the local urban context.
At the same time, the city is increasingly exposed to cooling-related vulnerabilities. Some 76 percent of apartments rely on air conditioning, while summer overheating is emerging as a growing concern, particularly in poorly insulated top-floor flats and older building envelopes.
Returning funding to local projects
Municipal authorities say the challenge is not simply securing access to national or European funds, but translating them into projects that reflect the reality of Piraeus’ housing stock and vulnerable residents.
Through LOCATEE, the municipality is using administrative datasets, Energy Performance Certificates and heating system information to identify residential buildings most exposed to energy poverty and prioritize interventions accordingly.
Piraeus is also linking LOCATEE to wider planning frameworks, including its Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan. The role of municipal authorities here is less that of direct implementers and more of coordinators able to connect national programs with residents, building managers, technical stakeholders and social services.
The project is also trying to move “beyond general awareness raising” to targeted interventions in vulnerable apartment buildings.
Renovation barriers beyond funding
Despite the degree of national and EU-backed support, the biggest barriers identified are often organizational rather than technological.
Unlike single-family homes, apartment building renovations in Piraeus typically require collective bargaining between multiple owners, tenants, and building managers. Fragmented ownership structures and poor coordination at the building level remain the main barriers slowing down energy improvements.
Stakeholder consultations conducted through LOCATEE identified recurring concerns among residents, including high renovation costs, low household income, procedural complexity and poor technical support.
This creates an “implementation gap” in which funding exists at national level, but vulnerable families still struggle to benefit from it in practice.
More than half of the respondents included in the consultation considered themselves energy poor. Elderly residents and single female households were identified among the groups most exposed to these risks.
A method of local coordination
Within this context, LOCATEE researchers argue that the most scalable model for Piraeus is not a single technology, but a package that combines data-driven targeting, tailored technical advice, access to finance and coordination at the construction level.
Project simulations identify heat pumps as one of the most cost-effective options for reducing energy consumption and lowering household bills in all building typologies analyzed in Piraeus.
Thermal insulation also remains important, especially in old and low-performing housing. The researchers also point out that reducing dependence on oil and gas in Piraeus will require targeted support to ensure that low-income households can participate in the transition.
In addition to technical measures, the municipality is placing great emphasis on practical coordination and the commitment of residents. Through cooperation with social services such as KODEP and the municipal Community Center, local authorities are working to help residents better understand which renovation measures are technically feasible and financially beneficial.
For policymakers, the case of Piraeus highlights a growing challenge across southern Europe: while funding for the green transition is expanding, translating it into coordinated renovation projects within aging apartment blocks remains much more difficult – and increasingly dependent on local coordination capacity.
(BM)
