Affordable housing provision constitutes a very large scheme in any country due to income distribution and national development. The supply of housing depends on many activities and processes. The purpose of the houses is to meet the requirement of the householders therefore design criteria must address the users’ requirements. The establishment of the design criteria constitutes an important activity in the initial phase of the housing development. The design criteria are prepared by the design team in collaboration with many stakeholders, especially the householders. Housing design criteria are the requirements that must be considered prior to the construction of the housing. Lack of adequate information on the design criteria would lead to poor householders’ satisfaction, increase in maintenance costs, abandonment, and completed but not occupied housing. In Malaysia, many of these consequences are prevalent. However, while information on the house owners’ requirements is inconclusive, this current research set out to investigate the design criteria of affordable housing. The increase in the affordable housing gap in Malaysia can be reduced if the designers have a comprehensive understanding of users’ requirements and the design criteria. Through a cross-sectional survey questionnaire, comprising 25 criteria, 7 criteria were found to be extremely critical.