The building sector accounts for 46% of Algeria’s total energy consumption, with individual housing representing 75% of residential demand and growing at 4-5% annually. Despite this pressure, no systematic multi-criteria assessment of existing housing sustainability has been conducted in the Algerian context. This study addresses this gap by examining the following question: to what extent do existing individual dwellings in Algeria meet the sustainability thresholds defined by an international assessment tool? Two contrasting case studies located in Tébessa (semi-arid climate, BSk) were evaluated using the “Gréng Hausnummer” multi-criteria grid (600 points; sustainability threshold: 360 points), structured into three domains: sustainable materials (A, max. 120 pts), energy (B, max. 290 pts), and resources (C, max. 190 pts). The first model, a 2007 conventional villa (reinforced concrete, hollow blocks, bricks), scores 360/600, exactly meeting the threshold. The second, a colonial-era villa built in 1950 and rehabilitated in 1984 (cob with vegetal fibres, stone), scores 355/600 (98.6% of the threshold). Comparative analysis reveals an inter-domain compensation phenomenon: the conventional model derives its performance from the energy domain (B: 180/290, 62.1%), while the colonial-era model excels in materials (A: 100/120, 83.3%) and resource management (C: 165/190, 86.8%). This compensation mechanism allows two opposing construction logics to converge toward near-identical total scores (Δ = 5 pts). These findings provide an empirically grounded and positive answer to the research question, demonstrating that Algeria’s built heritage possesses significant sustainability potential, and that residential sustainability is fundamentally a multidimensional phenomenon.