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LETITIA -Alleviating Energy Poverty in Multi-Apartment Buildings

LETITIA is a European project that tackles energy poverty in multi-apartment buildings, with a dedicated focus on summer heatwaves and indoor comfort. Through its Comfort-Oriented Framework (the CALOR paradigm), the project moves from diagnosing vulnerability to delivering community-agreed renovations. It combines high-resolution heat risk mapping with neighbourhood living labs, protective anti-eviction rules, affordable retrofit kits, and long-term comfort management contracts to ensure that home energy improvements remain accessible, healthy, and fair for all.

Context

Energy poverty is a structural crisis affecting more than 41 million people in Europe. Summer energy poverty and extreme indoor heat are rapidly worsening in Southern and South-Eastern Europe. In multi-apartment buildings, vulnerable households (such as low-income families, older people or single-parent families) face severe heat stress and poor living conditions that lead to chronic health problems. Despite the urgent need to renovate these buildings, these communities are often left behind because of high costs, complex decision-making among owners, and fear of rent increases and of having to leave their homes.

The main identified needs are:
For vulnerable residents: effective protection against rent increases and evictions, immediate relief from heat stress, and practical energy advice.
For building managers and professionals: clear tools to identify summer heat risks, affordable technical packages, and service models that maintain comfort over time.
For local authorities: practical methods to engage citizens, protect tenants, and embed social fairness into local climate and housing plans.

ABD's rol in the project

As an NGO committed to social inclusion and energy justice, ABD leads the community and participatory governance dimension of LETITIA. As leader of the bottom-up participation work package, ABD designs and coordinates the project’s participatory spaces in the four pilots: four CLIM-LABs and four Comfort Ambassador Clubs. ABD also coordinates co-creation, community energy education and household micro-measures, so that the voices and rights of vulnerable people guide every renovation decision.

Objectives

General objectives

Create an inclusive, community-driven renovation ecosystem for multi-apartment buildings that reduces summer and winter energy poverty, protects tenants from displacement, and improves health and wellbeing.

Specific objectives

Build Collaboration:

Establish neighbourhood hubs and resident-led ambassador groups to co-design local renovation plans.

Drive Fair Action:

Equip municipalities and housing providers with risk maps and No-Renoviction protocols that protect residents during retrofits.

Guarantee Comfort:

Define shared comfort standards with communities and design affordable financing models for low-income households.

Deliver Practical Solutions:

Create staged renovation pathways that combine immediate home improvements with deeper building upgrades.

Scale Up Across Europe:

Train professionals and share proven tools with cities, regional strategies, and housing networks across Europe.

Activities

Vulnerability Assessment:

Mapping summer heat stress and social vulnerability in neighborhoods using the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI+) and digital applications.

Citizen Participation and Co-Design:

Establishment of four local CLIM-LABs, one per pilot project, with 10 to 12 members each. These are local spaces where residents, city councils, housing agencies, social and health services, and financial institutions jointly decide on the improvements they need.
Creation of four Comfort Ambassador Clubs, with 8 to 12 residents in each (about 40 ambassadors in total, at least half of whom are from vulnerable groups). Neighbors and specialists work together to draft Comfort Letters that set reasonable limits on temperature and cost.

Anti-displacement and fair financing:

Development of the Anti-Eviction Protocol (No-Renoviction) and affordable financing options (such as payment via invoice and combined loans) to prevent households from being financially overwhelmed.

Home Improvements and Education:

Conducting hands-on workshops, Community Energy Schools, and implementing tailored small-scale measures (such as sun protection, ventilation guidelines, or sensors) through home visits.

Rehabilitation Roadmaps:

Implementation of modular renovation packages tailored to apartment buildings and the signing of service agreements to ensure comfort after the renovation work is complete.

Training and Policy Implementation:

Training of frontline professionals and municipal technical staff through the LETITIA Academy, and incorporation of the project’s models into local climate and housing policies.

Expected results and impact

Empowered communities: 8 local governance structures (4 CLIM-LABs and 4 Comfort Ambassador Clubs) and 4 Comfort Charters signed with the community.
Support for Vulnerable Households: 376 households experiencing energy poverty saw their bills reduced during the project (reaching more than 2,500 over five years) and were guaranteed they could remain in their homes, protected from eviction due to renovations.
Health and well-being benefits: At least 70% of participating households reported an improvement in thermal comfort, with an estimated annual savings of €118,000 in avoided public healthcare costs.
Energy and Climate Savings: Nearly 5 GWh/year in primary energy savings, more than 1,000 metric tons of CO₂ avoided annually, and 11.2 million euros mobilized for clean energy investments.
Scalability and Transferability: More than 250 professionals, community representatives, and municipal staff trained, along with open methodologies ready for replication across Europe.

The consortium

LETITIA is coordinated by Certimac, with partner organisations Instituto Valenciano de la Edificación (IVE), B.Link, Cyprus Energy Agency, Innovacoop, EnEffect, Asociación Bienestar y Desarrollo – Grupo ABD, Fundación Naturgy, Housing Europe, EuroHealthNet and with the Balkan Green Foundation.

Funded by the LIFE Program (Clean Energy Transition) – LIFE-2025-CET-ENERPOV of the European Union and implemented from november 2026 to october 2029 with pilots in 4 ecosystems: Valencia (Spain), Modena (Italy), Gabrovo (Bulgaria) and Aradippou (Cyprus).