Valbona Xhafa, regional manager at Fondi BESA, emphasizes the deep cultural value placed on homeownership in Albania: “We Albanians are very sensitive about our houses. We all want to own houses. That’s what it means to live well.”

Recognizing the widespread desire for improved living conditions in Albania, Fondi BESA, with support from Habitat for Humanity’s MicroBuild Fund, introduced a new housing loan product in 2021. This initiative faced initial challenges, as Alma from Fondi BESA notes: “We’d had the product for more than a year, but we were hardly disbursing any housing loans.”

The pandemic and the similarity of this new product to existing loans were significant barriers. However, MicroBuild’s technical assistance, focusing on product differentiation and staff training, marked a turning point. “It makes me happy that now we can serve these clients with better loan terms,” Valbona remarks.

In a small village on the outskirts of Tirana, the capital, we encounter the tangible impact of these efforts in the life of Mereme’s family. When Jersika, a loan officer at Fondi BESA, visits her client Ergil, Mereme, his mother, insists on a unique ritual: rubbing her foot across the doorsteps. Doing this, Mereme says, will help Ergil find a wife faster. This small act reflects Mereme’s deep desire to see her son settle down and start a family.

Mereme and her husband, Bashkim, live in a modest, three-room structure surrounded by smallholder farms. In stark contrast, adjacent to their home is Ergil’s new house, a testament to modern architecture with its clean, whitewashed walls and a freshly laid tile patio. This new structure symbolizes a significant shift from the family’s humble beginnings.

The family initiated the house construction four years ago but faced financial constraints, buying materials only as funds allowed. When Jersika first met them six months prior, the house was incomplete, more a shell than a home. “I saw their house was still incomplete, and I went to talk to them,” Jersika recounts. Her intervention, through Fondi BESA’s housing loan pilot, was timely. “The loan helped us speed up the building process,” Mereme confirms, detailing how they could swiftly purchase doors, windows, and a roof.

Jersika and Fondi BESA didn’t stop at just providing financial assistance. They worked closely with Ergil, advising on energy-efficient materials and construction techniques. This guidance included insulating the roof and walls, significantly reducing the family’s energy usage and costs. The benefits were felt immediately.

The family’s aspirations for Ergil’s home extend further. “The foundation was built to support two stories,” Jersika explains, highlighting the potential for future expansion. Mereme, with optimism and a touch of humor, adds, “Yes, with our next loan, we might even add a second story.”

In this evolving narrative, the story of Mereme’s family is a microcosm of Albania’s journey towards improved housing. It exemplifies the transformative power of dedicated support and the enduring spirit of families adapting to and shaping their futures.

After being picked up from the airport by Habitat for Humanity Romania’s team, the family was taken to a hotel where they were arranged to stay for four nights. In the hotel lobby, they recounted their experience.

The family later relocated to a UN-protected school, crowded with 7,000 people seeking safety. They slept in a classroom with around 100 other people, on just blankets and mattresses pulled from the ruins.

“With no electricity, food and water were scarce; I was only allowed to drink water in the morning, and sometimes I had to drink seawater out of sheer desperation,” Asma recalls.

On November 7, the family received news that they would be relocated to Romania. Before leaving, they returned to their destroyed home to salvage essential items like clothes, shoes and important documents. Just minutes after leaving, another rocket struck nearby, narrowly missing them.

The family was evacuated through the Rafah border in Egypt, then to Cairo, where they waited for 13 hours before arriving in Romania. Habitat for Humanity Romania’s team was there to welcome them as part of its partnership with the State Department for Emergency Situations. The organization’s support includes the provision of emergency shelter in hotels, cash assistance for rent, and a social rental program with ready-to-occupy apartments.

Now safe in Romania, Khaled and Asma are focused on building a new life. They are determined to find employment and enroll their children in schools, drawing strength and hope from the resilience and compassion that Hanan’s name represents.

More than 220 evacuees have been repatriated to Romania so far, many of whom have family in the country. Habitat Romania has been focusing on the most vulnerable groups, helping them secure temporary shelter, in line with Habitat for Humanity’s Pathways to Permanence approach.

Improving residential energy efficiency in Central and Eastern Europe

Habitat for Humanity addresses energy poverty in many ways. One example is through our work partnering with families to improve residential energy efficiency across Central and Eastern Europe. Nearly half of the housing stock in the region consists of large-scale residential buildings constructed between 1960 and 1990 with little-to-no consideration for energy efficiency. These aging, inefficient buildings combined with the region’s rising energy costs force families to spend a high share of their income on utility bills.

“In Europe, you’ll find energy poverty everywhere,” says Besim Nebiu, Habitat’s director of housing programs and regional operations for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. “In the winter months, your energy bill becomes your highest housing expense. Many families underheat their apartments and make compromises in their standard of living.”

Retrofitting old buildings can reduce energy consumption by 40-50%, which leads to direct savings and enables families to moderate the temperatures in their homes more affordably. Despite the advantages, building upgrades in the region require considerable investment and coordination among apartment owners.

Following mass privatization in the 1990s, residents became responsible for maintaining and managing their apartment blocks, a burden previously handled by the state. Without a proper system for upkeep, many buildings in the region fell into disrepair, including Mile’s 110-unit apartment complex in Skopje, North Macedonia.

Mile says his Yugoslavia-era building was a “horror situation” before partnering with Habitat. Pieces of the façade were falling, there was broken glass and the elevators had frequent outages. The building’s poor energy efficiency also left residents vulnerable to high energy costs.

Saving money and keeping warm in the winter

Mile rallied his neighbors to make a change. The municipality linked Mile to Habitat, who financed window replacements throughout the building by offering affordable loans to the apartment owners. “When the renovation of the façade and the windows were completed, we felt the effects through the heating bills. Our heating bills have been reduced by at least 30%,” Mile says.

For nearly 15 years, Habitat has been working in the region to empower and mobilize residents like Mile to make energy upgrades in their buildings. “We’re creating an ecosystem conducive of renovation at scale,” Besim explains. “We work with apartment owners, homeowner associations, municipalities, banks and financial institutions to bring about sustainable, mass renovation.”

In Europe, Habitat’s past and current energy-related projects span a dozen countries — Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Spain and Ukraine. This work has improved the energy efficiency of hundreds of buildings, helping thousands of homeowners save money and become more comfortable in their homes.

“Energy poverty is a housing issue”

Access to affordable and reliable energy is essential for meeting basic human needs, improving living standards and fostering sustainable and equitable communities. Besim says our expertise and thought leadership in the space puts us in a position to drive more people out of energy poverty.

“Energy poverty is not an energy issue; it’s a housing issue and a social issue. We know how impactful it can be to have access to affordable energy services. We’re well positioned to continue bringing actors together and making affordable renovations available to homeowners,” Besim says.