According to the 1980 housing census, the district was reported having 17,177 houses. On the average a house was occupied by 6.0 persons and crowding per room was only marginally less. Most (90.0%) of the houses comprised only one room while the remaining (10.0%) had more than one rooms. Boundary wall was around almost all the houses.

The Local Government and Rural Development Department has introduced two housing schemes in the district. Singar Housing Projects, Gwadar has been planned on about 600 hectares of area on Koh-e-Batil. Because of the expected deep sea port at Gwadar, this housing project has gained importance among the bureaucracy, politicians, and the general public. It was told that there may hardly be any higher official who does not have a plot here. Zarrien Housing Scheme is initiated in Pasni.

In 1980, about 97 percent of the houses were occupied by the owners while only some houses were rented out. Some houses were given to others rent-free. Renting is found in urban area only, as in rural areas there is no tradition of renting out ones house. The practice of renting out the houses has increased, mainly, due to establishment of various government offices in the district, which do not have their own buildings. Similarly most of the immigrant labour also live at rented places.

There have been a tremendous change in construction material being used for buildings. Previously mud and un-baked bricks were mostly used for construction of houses and specially for courtyard walls. Roofs were made of trunks and leaves of date trees. In some areas, pish mates are used with date tree branches for construction of abodes. The houses having roofs made of girders/beams and kiln bricks were 87 percent. RCC or RBC construction was very rare. According to 1980 housing census, 92 percent of the houses were constructed after creation of Pakistan. Twenty five percent of the houses were constructed in the period of 1975-80.

Nowadays, many buildings are being constructed with concrete blocks made of cement, gravel crush and sand. Roofs in such buildings are constructed using RCC or iron girders and concrete blocks or kiln bricks or tiles while the walls are constructed with concrete blocks. However, mud and un-baked bricks are still the main construction material for houses. Interestingly the chimneys of houses made of mud are plastered with cement so that they can survive in the rains.

Kerosene oil lamps are used in most of the houses as source of light. In Gwadar town electricity is supplied daily for 12 hours only (9:30-16:30 & 18:30-23:30 hours). Electric appliances are used for light and rarely for cooking. Only Pasni has regular electricity supply. Ormara and Jiwani have their own power generation plants. These plants provide electricity supply for limited hours as per local requirement. A very few people have generators to produce electricity by their own. In Gwadar district a total of 4,392 electricity supply connections were provided up to February 1997, out of which 3,445 were domestic connections. Keeping in view the number of houses (17,177 in 1980) in the district electricity supply coverage seems quite insufficient.

Cooking is done mainly by using fuel wood. Kerosene oil stoves are also used for cooking to some extent as petroleum products are relatively cheaper in Gwadar due to cross-border trade. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is also available in cylinders which is mainly used for cooking. At present about 4,000 cylinders, each containing 11 kg of LPG, were being supplied per month in the whole district. Fuel wood is collected by both the males and females. Some people supply fuel wood on commercial basis after cutting it from forest or wood lands in Kulanch and Dasht valleys.

According to the 1980 housing census, 90 percent of the houses had only one room for multipurpose use. In urban areas, Gwadar, Pasni, and Ormara, a separate kitchen was available in two third of the houses, separate bathrooms in 71 percent of the houses, and separate latrines in 24 percent of the houses. Latrines with flush were very few (1%). Houses without kitchen constituted 20 percent and without bathroom 17 percent while 64 percent of the houses were without any latrine facility.

In 1981, about one third of the households had access to piped drinking water. Around 40 percent of the houses were using drinking water obtained from open surface wells while 13 percent of the households were obtaining drinking water from springs and karezes. Houses having latrines with a flush system were very few.

The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has completed 26 water supply schemes till March 1997, all of which are functional, providing drinking water to 96 percent of the population. In some 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 under which construction of 200 latrines at public places has been carried out throughout the district. However some of these latrines were constructed in government offices which may not be considered as public places. Most of the houses in Gwadar have dry latrines while some houses have latrines with flush system. The municipal committee Gwadar has 3 tractor trolleys for collection and disposal of household garbage but this arrangement is inadequate. Same is the case with Pasni municipal committee which has 2 tractor-trolleys.

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