Engaging housing stakeholders managing private multi-family buildings

The city of Rumia is a partner and one of three pilot cities in the LOCATEE project. As part of the project, the local government conducts various activities and consultations with stakeholders concerning the energy efficiency of multi-family buildings, establishes contact with housing managers, and supports IBS by providing access to data on the city’s building stock.

The largest property manager in the city is Housing Cooperative Janowo (with 4,5 thousand members), where we presented the results of one of three surveys conducted within the ENBLOC project. Based on the findings, we can conclude, among other things, that:

• residents of the cooperative are only minimally at risk of energy poverty – the energy poverty indicators are in the single-digit range;
• a more significant issue in the cooperative’s apartments is high summer temperatures rather than low winter temperatures: one in five households in Janowo uses fans or air conditioners during the summer;
• declared trust in the management board supports investment initiatives; however, decision-making is hindered by the low turnout of cooperative members at the general assembly, which also contributes to a weak social mandate and a limited sense of agency among residents.
• demographic and ownership diversity at the individual building level influences residents’ engagement in investment activities.

The meeting at the cooperative’s headquarters was attended, among others, by Zbigniew Antochowski, the president of Housing Cooperative Janowo as well as Marzena Pranga and Alina Labudda from Rumia’s Department of Climate and Air Protection. We discussed the research results and addressed several topics, such as the fair distribution of profits and losses from renewable energy sources in multi-family buildings, the declared versus actual housing fees, and we agreed on further steps for stakeholder engagement in the LOCATEE project in Rumia. The presentation of the IBS work was handed over to the cooperative’s management board, which will, in turn, present it to other governing bodies within the cooperative. This process is expected to contribute to better-informed decisions regarding the energy transition in multi-family buildings.