Uganda - Housing

Most of the inhabitants live in thatched huts with mud and wattle walls, but styles of building vary from group to group. Even in rural areas, however, corrugated iron is used extensively as a roofing material. In urban centers, sun-baked mud bricks, concrete blocks, and even fired bricks were encouraged by the government, which was responsible for a number of housing schemes prior to the Amin era. In that period, housing was neglected and there was considerable damage to the nation's housing stock during the 1978–79 war.

The National Housing and Construction Corp., a government agency founded in 1964, builds residential housing and has sponsored a number of developments in recent years. One of its newest projects is called the Growing House. The Growing House is a basic, one-bedroom detached house that is ready for immediate occupation but is designed for easy expansion by the owner, as their own financial situation allows.

According to the latest available information for 1980–88, the total number of housing units was 3.1 million with 5.1 people per dwelling. Preliminary information for the 2002 census indicates a total of 5,186,558 households with an average of 4.7 members per household.