Home
Up
Events
The Project
The Partners
SHARE Forums
Training Sessions
Awareness Programmes
Case Studies
Timetable
Links
SHARE in the United Kingdom
SHARE in Sweden
SHARE in Ireland
SHARE in Germany
SHARE in Slovenia
SHARE in France
SHARE in Estonia

Social housing in Bulgaria

The social housing stock in Bulgaria can be examined into two categories:

·     Social housings owned by the municipalities and rented to tenants with low incomes and

·     Privately owned social housings.

In the following table are given the number of dwellings in Bulgaria by ownership and census years

Social housings owned by the municipalities

In Bulgaria the municipalities are responsible for the construction, management and refurbishment of social housings. The total amount of municipality and state dwellings is 109068. 95802 of these dwellings are in the towns. 82563 of them are permanently occupied and most of them are in blocks of flats erected with prefabricated concrete panels. 13266 dwellings are located in villages, most of them are very old and can’t ensure any comfort. The number of dwellings owned by municipalities decreases constantly. This is due to the lack of funds for the erection of new dwellings and the trend to sale the dwelling to the tenants.

Privately owned social housings

A specific aspect of the dwelling sector in Bulgaria is the fact that 97% of the dwellings are privately owned. Because of this we accept the following definition: social housing concerns the provision of good quality accommodation for lower income groups including recently privatised housing stock as well as accommodation for vulnerable social groups. This category of social housings includes multi-family dwelling buildings erected with reinforced concrete panels in the period 1960-1990. These buildings were erected to reach the huge demand for dwellings in the towns.  In Bulgaria there are 18 900 panel dwelling buildings with 707 441 dwellings where live   1 779 086 people. These buildings are located mainly in the big towns. In Sofia they are 2 564 with 201 020 dwellings and 502 571 inhabitants (nearly 40 % of the citizens of Sofia). These buildings are characterised by high energy consumption because of the lack of insulation of external walls and the poor condition of their windows and heating systems.

In the following table are given the percentage of panel type buildings by period of construction

 National Program for Refurbishment of Dwelling Buildings in Bulgaria

The Program itself is divided into two subs – programs:

·        First Sub – Program: Duration – 11 years (2005 – 2015); Scope – 105 000 dwellings from the residential panel complexes of Burgas, Varna, Plovdiv and Sofia.

·        Second Sub – Program:  Duration – 13 years (2008 – 2020); Scope – 579 676 homes countrywide

Different sources of financing are foreseen:

• From the state (20% of the total cost of the refurbishment), the total amount for the whole program is 830 million Leva;
• Financing from the homeowners (it’s calculated that for the flat of 75 m² the owner have to invest 5 100 Leva from the total refurbishment cost of 6 375 Leva).

Anticipated Effects:

• Energy economy for heating
• Ecology effect
• Social effect

Supported by

The sole responsibility for the content of this document lies with the authors.  It does not represent the opinion of the European Communities. 

The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Social Housing Energy Efficiency in the UK Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Ireland Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Sweden Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Bulgaria

Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Germany Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Slovenia Social Housing Energy Efficiency in France Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Estonia