Ukraine: Existing Support Programmes for Multi-Family House Thermal Modernisation

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Before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the country already belonged to the group of European countries with the least energy efficient building stock. The residential sector – dominated by Multi-Family Houses (MFH) constructed before 1990 – accounts for roughly one third of the country's final energy consumption and thus represents one of the largest single energy consumers in the economy. Within this sector, Soviet-type Multi-Family Houses built under outdated norms, with poor insulation and inefficient heating systems, constitute the core of the problem. Around 80% of Multi-Family Houses were constructed before the 1980s and have never undergone comprehensive renovation locking in excessive heat losses and burden for public finance.

This paper provides an overview of past and ongoing public support programmes for thermal modernisation in the Multi-Family Housing segment in Ukraine and asks why these instruments have not been used on a larger scale to date. Building on experiences with programmes at national and municipal level, it identifies recurring obstacles that prevent expansion beyond a small "organised" part of the stock, including coordination problems within buildings, limited access to finance, irregular public funding and administrative complexity. The aim is to create a structured evidence base for the development of scalable policy solutions that can unlock the significant energy efficiency potential of multi-family buildings in the context of reconstruction and EU integration.