At present no isolated data are available regarding housing in Killa Saifullah district. According to the 1981 census, the total number of households in the area of Muslim Bagh sub-division and Killa Saifullah tehsil was 16,234 with an average household size of 8.5. It was observed that most of the people live in single-room houses, made of mud. Construction of boundary walls is not considered necessary in mountainous areas.

No data is available on tenure of houses however, a few old buildings can be seen in Killa Saifullah and Muslim Bagh which are stated to be about 70-80 years old. Almost all of the houses are occupied by the owners while only a few shops have been rented out in Killa Saifullah and Muslim Bagh towns.

Almost all houses, except the houses of tribal chiefs and the well-to-do businessmen, are built with mud or with mud and stone. While in the valleys people are using mostly mud for construction, mud and stones are used in mountain areas. It is well known that mud houses give more effective protection against the extremes of weather. Roofs are constructed with wooden beams crossed by wood and covered with bushes or reed mats plastered with mud. Iron girders are also used for roof construction in Killa Saifullah and Muslim Bagh towns. Recently, corrugated iron sheets are also gaining some popularity for roof construction. Baked bricks and cement constructions are uncommon in private houses. The new government buildings are made with baked bricks and cement. The old government buildings are constructed either with mud or stone bricks.

Kerosene lamps are used in most of the houses as source of light. Electricity is available in 29 villages of the district. In these villages electric appliances are used for light and rarely for cooking. In Killa Saifullah, a total of 4,572 electric supply connections were given up to February 1997, out of which 3,413 were domestic connections. Keeping in view the number of households (16,234 in 1981) in the district, electricity supply coverage seems quite insufficient. Very few people have electric generators for their own use.

Wood and dung cakes are the main fuel for cooking. Liquid petroleum gas is available in cylinders only and is mainly used for cooking. At present about 2,000 cylinders, each containing 11 kg of LPG, are being consumed per month in the whole district. Fuel wood is collected by both men and women. Women prepare dung cakes from animals manure. Some people make a living of collecting fuel wood from woodlands and selling it in towns.

In the absence of any isolated data on housing characteristics in Killa Saifullah district, it is difficult to give an accurate account of housing in the district. However, according to observation most of the houses in Killa Saifullah and Muslim Bagh towns have a separate kitchen and bathroom while these facilities are a rarity in the other areas. Latrines are not available in most of the houses and flush system latrines are a rare exemption. Most of the houses are single-room units and many people do not have boundary walls outside their houses.

Most of the people obtain drinking water from tubewells, open surface wells and springs. The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has completed 52 water supply schemes till June 1997, out of which 48 are functional providing drinking water to 32.4 percent of the population. In a few water supply schemes, drinking water is supplied to the houses through pipelines, while in others community tanks have been constructed at relatively central places from where people fetch water. In case the source of drinking water is not located inside the house, usually it is the duty of the women or children to fetch water for household needs. The Water and Sanitation Section of the Local Government and Rural Development Department (LG&RDD) has recently completed a project in collaboration with UNICEF which covered the installation of 160 deep well hand pumps for drinking water throughout the district.

Most of the houses in Killa Saifullah and Muslim Bagh towns have dry latrines while only a few houses have latrines with flush system. There is no sewerage system, therefore drainage water is often collected in the streets. The Union Councils of Killa Saifullah and Muslim Bagh have arrangements for collection and disposal of household garbage but these arrangements are limited to the town areas only and are inadequate.