Habitat for Humanity International Hungary Nonprofit Kft.
HFHI Hungary
MAIN FIELDS OF ACTIVITIES: -Community Impact: building and renovating new houses, housing support services, community development -Sector Impact: market development and policy advocacy -Societal Impact: Awareness Raising and Citizen Mobilization MAIN THEMES OF THE WORK: Habitat for Humanity seeks to eliminate housing poverty and homelessness around the world, and make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Alongside homeowner families, Habitat builds and rehabilitates homes through volunteer labour and donations of money and materials. Habitat for Humanity Hungary is currently engaged in projects related to the unaffordability of the private rental sector, energy poverty in Hungary, and municipality and national level legislative proposals to improve the situation of people living in substandard dwellings, as well as people experiencing homelessness.
ID: 860730436366-89
Lobbying Activity
Response to Revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2010/31/EU
22 Mar 2021
Habitat for Humanity Hungary (HfHH) welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Inception Impact Assessment of upcoming revisions to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.
HfHH aims to see everyone live in decent housing that allows them to live a healthy and active life. Through affordable, quality building materials; volunteer labor and training, HfHH helps families and communities make a difference in their housing conditions, whilst also working on advocacy for many years in order to achieve fair and inclusive housing policies.
We support a highly ambitious Energy Performance of Buildings Directive that supports the implementation of the Renovation Wave initiative, especially if it contributes to the alleviation of energy poverty through increasing efficiency of the worst-performing residential sector and homes of low-income and energy poor households.
To accelerate the renovation rate in the worst-performing segment of the residential building stock, we suggest that Member States (MSs) in their respective Long-term renovation strategies, besides outlining policies and measures targeting the worst performing segments of the national building stock, split-incentive dilemmas and market failures, as well as including an outline of relevant national actions that contribute to the alleviation of energy poverty, shall also:
1) provide a detailed renovation roadmap for the renovation of the worst-performing segment, including:
- milestones for the renovation of this segment with reporting obligations in the Governance Regulation;
- assessment of funding needs of the renovation of the segment, and list of dedicated funding mechanisms with labeled funding sources for the renovation of this segment, including sources of the Central Budgets, EU funding and ETS revenues, reflecting the weight of the worst-performing segment;
- guarantees that low-income households are enabled to access financing mechanisms for renovation
2) outline how to exploit co-benefits in terms of
- contribution of policies and measures outlined in the LTRS to the sections of NECP on energy poverty (2.4.4., 3.4.4);
- the implementation of the Article 7 of EED on energy saving obligations and the renovation of the worst-performing buildings;
- upskilling of workers in deprived regions and renovating the worst-performing buildings in the same regions.
We also suggest to consider the introduction of a target for the renovation of the worst-performing segment, similarly to the requirements of the EED for renovating 3% of buildings owned or occupied by the central government.
Read full responseResponse to Revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001
21 Sept 2020
Habitat for Humanity Hungary (HfHH) would like to highlight key issues that can ensure a just energy transition from the point of view of energy poor households in Hungary and Central and Eastern Europe.
Deployment of renewable energy (RE) and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission must
● be rigorously inclusive to maximize its potential of tackling energy poverty (and its extreme forms such as lack of access to grid and gas network), unhealthy housing conditions, bad air quality and
● avoid posing the explicit and implicit burden of the transition on vulnerable households, such as inequalities deriving from the potential price increase of energy and heating devices, that primarily affects low-income HHs.
In Hungary, the wide-spread use of solid biomass in low-quality heaters of low-performing dwellings significantly contributes to GHG emissions, air-pollution, and energy poverty.
The share of RE in primary energy use is 12%. 81% of RE is produced from solid biomass. Other, non-burnable RE sources (solar, water, wind and geothermal) constitute only 1% from the primary energy use. More than 2/3 of RE use is biomass burning at a household level.
70% of the Hungarian housing stock does not meet basic efficiency standards. 42% of dwellings are heated with fuels other than gas, mostly wood. 15% of homes are heated by individual solid fuel heaters, which are usually very inefficient stoves that are not compatible with advanced fuels. Therefore, the highest component of renewable energy is used in a very inefficient way contributing to air pollution and GHG emission, due to the state of the housing stock and heating appliances. Biomass is used predominantly by low-income HHs: 48% of the first income quintile exclusively relies on solid fuels, while only 11% in the highest income quintile. Lack of savings of households jeopardize their participation in RE projects. As only 50% of HHs have savings of two-months of expenses, low-income HHs are unlikely to invest in more efficient stoves and renewable energy sources. As selling fresh wood is a common practice, often wet wood is burnt in stoves, since many HHs do not have the means to buy the wood in advance and dry it. This further decreases efficiency and increases pollution. For the reduction of GHG emission, the deployment of advanced fuels, the efficient use of RE in heating, and from household biofuel use, we suggest to:
● Prioritise financial accessibility of less-developed regions and settlements when financing RE.
● Include renewable heat production into Article 4 of RED, beside the support of electricity production from renewable sources.
● Include stronger guarantees of access to prosumership and energy communities to low-income and vulnerable households (art. 21&22), e.g. through the inclusive design of support schemes (pre-financing, non-repayable funds, microcredits, etc.) and the explicit requirement of proportional and primary inclusion of low-income or vulnerable or energy-poor households into energy communities.
● Deploy local district heating (DH) systems fueled with RE sources, primarily in less-developed areas to provide an alternative to inefficient burning of solid biomass and a tool to tackle energy poverty.
● In art. 23, make mandatory measures that support the upgrade of heating devices to highly efficient ones, starting from the worst-performing devices. More efficient solid biomass heating can significantly reduce air pollution (PM emission) by a two-fold effect:
1. Emissions are avoided as significantly (up to 50%) less fuel is needed for the production of a unit of energy.
2. Efficient stoves burn biomass at higher temperatures which results in a significant reduction of PM emissions for unit of fuel burnt.
● To regulate the moisture content of wood for residential use; only sustainably sourced seasoned (dried) wood should be available on the market.
Read full responseResponse to Review of Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency
21 Sept 2020
Habitat for Humanity Hungary believes that energy-efficient dwellings and appliances not only have a positive economic and environmental effect but are also vital to fight energy poverty (EP). To ensure a just transition and to effectively tackle EP, ambitious energy efficiency (EE) targets have to be reached by measures carried out in the residential sector involving low-income households (LIHs). Measures should target the worst-performing building stock and inefficient HH appliances.
Among the barriers of EE in Hungary we highlight the following:
EE progress in the residential sector is lagging, the targets of the building efficiency strategy were failed to be met. In its NECP Hungary has not set measurable milestones. The State Secretary responsible for Energy confirmed that a large-scale renovation program of 1.4 million dwellings (representing a highly energy demanding building type) had been withdrawn from the National Energy Strategy. Existing EE support schemes are not accessible to LIHs: credit-lines exclude financially vulnerable groups and post-financing schemes exclude half of the population, as only 50% of HHs have savings of two-months of expenses, thus unable to cover up-front costs. 10 % of electricity, 10% of district heating and 3% of gas consumers have arrears longer than 60 days.
42% of dwellings are heated with fuels other than gas - mostly wood. 15% of homes are heated by usually inefficient individual solid fuel heaters that increase emissions and the already high heating costs of low income HHs.
Further barriers to deploy EE to LIHs:
● Strict ecodesign and EE rules phase out inefficient appliances but will bring a significant price increase. It will hinder LIHs’ access to new appliances (e.g. stoves) if they wear out
● Safety regulations of gas appliances and chimneys are necessary but put a bureaucratic and financial burden on HHs, leading to avoidance of upgrades and interventions or downgrading to older technologies (e.g. solid fuel heating instead of gas)
● In Hungary most of the inefficient homes are of low-market-value, individual rural dwellings in private ownership. The majority of their owners have no savings. These factors jeopardize renovations
● HHs heating with solid fuels or having arrears will not access on-bill EE financing or ESCOs because of having arrears and not paying for their highest energy cost (solid fuels) through bills
● HHs heating with solid fuels do not benefit from metering and billing rules required by the EED and national price-reduction policies (cf. the case of gas, electricity and district heating)
To boost EE in dwellings, we suggest to:
● Make EE targets binding
● Introduce sectorial EE and energy-saving targets proportional to the energy demand of sectors, including the residential building sector. This needs an amendment of the EE and energy-saving targets (article 1, 3). Energy-efficient renovations have to be implemented proportionally in the worst-performing building stock
● Set more robust requirements in article 7 to guarantee that ESO interventions reach a significant and proportional share of vulnerable HHs
● EED should provide more elaborate rules for support of EE (cf. Renewable Energy Directive (RED)). Setting-up of national EE funds (article 20 (4)) should be obligatory, with dedicated programs targeting those who are not eligible for mainstream EE solutions (on-bill financing, credit lines or post-financing non-repayable funding). This should take form in long-term, stable schemes, providing pre-financed and (partly) non-refundable funding, with low bureaucratic burden. Stability of financial support (cf. Article 6 of RED) should be required from MS. Smaller interventions and appliance upgrades can be supported with pre-saving schemes, microcredits, social banking programs, technical support. Energy Saving Obligation Schemes may complement these
● Dedicate programs for the upgrade of heating devices fueled by wood to increase EE and reduce emissions
Read full responseResponse to Long term vision for rural areas
9 Sept 2020
Habitat for Humanity Hungary would like to emphasize the high prevalence of rural energy poverty (EP) in Hungary and provide policy recommendations to improve quality of life through EP alleviation.
In rural Hungary households (HHs) face a high risk of EP, due to the following:
1. Lower income of HHs in rural areas
2. Majority of the worst-performing dwellings are in villages (National Building Energy Performance Strategy)
3. High energy cost burden: 55% of the first income decile relies on solid fuels. 75% of dwellings in villages are heated by fuels other than gas and 37.9% burn solid fuels in individual heaters. The price of firewood has been increasing for 10+ years, while the price of district heating and gas (typically used by higher income, urban groups) was cut back in 2013 and stabilized at a fixed price
4. Housing segregation is a severe issue in rural Hungary, which entails extreme cases of EP
Outcomes of rural EP:
- Severe air pollution due to low-quality heating stoves and fuels [(wet) wood and fuel substitutes)]
- Severe health impacts: worsened chronic diseases by cold and unhealthy housing conditions.
- Cold and unhealthy homes and lack of lighting result in lower performance in schools and work
- Disconnections from energy and water services due to arrears
- Higher vulnerability to COVID-19 due to unaffordability of and lack of access to utilities, and overcrowded, low-quality homes
Policies have failed to respond effectively to the problems of energy poor HHs in rural areas: home renovation programs predominantly targeted urban, multi-family homes or HHs with higher income. Housing and solid fuel subsidies are inefficient and their distribution increases inequalities.
Fighting EP in rural areas can significantly improve the quality of life by:
- Fostering just energy transition by (1) providing access to affordable building efficiency, heating and renewable energy measures, (2) minimizing negative effects of transition for vulnerable HHs, e.g. inability to comply with new technical regulations (3) generating income by boosting local labor market and decreasing energy costs through the renovation of worst performing buildings, deployment of renewable energy and local heating solutions
- Decreasing health impacts of EP
- Improved protection of HHs from COVID-19 by guaranteeing access to and adequate quantity of electricity and hot water
We suggest the following interventions:
1. Renovation wave for rural areas
- Renovation programs suitable for low income HHs living in the worst performing building stock in rural areas. This means long-term, stable schemes, providing pre-financed and non-refundable funding, with low bureaucratic burden. Pre-saving schemes, microcredits, social banking programs, technical support and dedicated interventions of Energy Saving Obligation Schemes may complement it
2. Sustainable and affordable heating and energy
- Heating device upgrade programs focusing on individual heaters for cheaper and cleaner heating and supporting compliance of HHs with new stove and chimney regulations
- Facilitating the establishment of energy communities in the most deprived areas
- Supporting innovation for cheap, low-carbon heating solutions suitable for the existing housing stock
- Foster circular economy by incentivizing the use of alternative biomass stock
- Stricter regulation of firewood market: only dry wood to be sold and/or distributed to HHs
3. Activation through training and employment to provide locally available professionals of renovation and renewable energy
4. Desegregation programs should focus on energy efficiency and the renewal of the rural housing stock
5. Social aspects
- Training local service providers (e.g. health care practitioners, teachers) to recognize EP
- Facilitation of access to energy efficiency and renewable energy funding sources for low-income HHs
- Consultation for HHs on energy use combined with low cost interventions to reduce energy use
Read full response