Beitbridge has an estimated 2,570 houses in formal settlements (primarily for government officials and mid-level private sector staff) and 3,000 in informal settlements. Formal-settlement dwellings are mainly two- to three-room brick houses, while those in the informal settlements were among the worst mud houses in Zimbabwe. The informal settlement houses have since been destroyed by the 2005 Operation Murambatsvina (Move the Rubbish), a large-scale Zimbabwean government campaign to forcibly clear slum areas across the country. New houses have since been built using the Mfelandawonye cooperative system. Average house occupancy in the low-income and informal settlements varies considerably, as many people do not bring their families to Beitbridge, but includes at least four people. Recreational facilities are limited in low-income areas, consisting largely of bars and soccer pitches.
