According to the Housing Survey 1980 the total housing units in Kalat (including Mastung) district were 3,653 in urban areas and 42,455 in rural areas. Three fourth of the housing units had one to two rooms. Three room housing units constituted 14 percent of the total. The crowding in terms of persons per housing unit was 7 and in terms of persons per room was 3.

Ninety percent of the housing units were owner-occupied. The rented and rent-free housing tendency started after the partition of India and notification of the district. The rented and rent free housing units were 2 and 8% respectively. Many government offices are also functioning in rented buildings.

According to the 1981 census report, unbaked bricks, mud, girder/beams and baked bricks are commonly used as construction material for outer walls and roofs. These were used in construction of 65% of the housing units. Use of stones and RCC/RBC was made in only a small number of cases. It has been observed, however, that the use of baked bricks and cement is increasing in the construction of new houses.

According to the 1981 census report, fuel wood/bush wood was used by 92 percent of the households for cooking/heating. Dung cake was used by five percent of the households, while 3 percent were using kerosene and other fuels. The use of gas cylinders is becoming quite popular in the urban areas. At present 70 percent of the households units are using kerosene and 30 percent electricity for lighting purposes. WAPDA has provided 4,891 domestic and 506 commercial connections in the district.

According to the Housing Survey of 1980 the housing characteristics in urban areas were better than that in rural areas. A separate kitchen facility was available to 78% of the housing units; 10% housing units had no kitchen facilities. A separate bathroom and latrine facilities were available to 79 and 87% of the housing units respectively. Separate latrine facility with flush was available to only one percent of the housing units; 11% housing units in the towns had no latrines. In the rural area 50% houses had a drawing room for guests. Notable persons had separate guest houses near their residences. In the urban areas only 30% housing units had drawing rooms for guests. In the rural areas 10% of the housing units had kitchen facilities. Only 5% had a bathroom and 9% had a latrine inside the house.

Access to potable water has always been a problem in the remote areas of the district. The main sources of drinking water in the area are: springs, rivers, streams, wells, tube wells, community hand pumps and water supply schemes. In the urban areas of Kalat, water supply schemes and community hand pumps cover 90 percent of the housing units while 10 percent of the households fetch water from wells, tube wells and community hand pumps. In rural areas 85 percent of the housing units use water from the river, spring, well and tube well. Only 15 percent use potable water, obtained from water supply schemes and community hand pumps. See also paragraph 7.1.1.

The overall sanitary condition of the area is not good. In urban areas only 5 percent of the housing units have latrines, while a flush system exists only in one percent of the housing units. The hygienic condition is very poor; people dump the garbage on the corner of the streets. There are no arrangement for its disposal.

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