Brazilian housing industry is a sector that employs a large number of workers without specific technical skill or training. This contributes to the increase in waste of materials due to the limited use of new technologies. The workers low education level interferes in an effort to enhance and improve the sustainability indices in Brazil, in this business chain, which grew up about 4% per year, in the last two years. This study aimed to analyze the issues related to the sustainability of Brazilian housing industry. We compared the data from developed and developing countries, and results indicated that the amount of waste generated by residential constructions is positively correlated to illiteracy. Data on overall waste range from 10 to 30%, depending on the region, and most of it is related to lack of labor training. Improvements in this sector are needed in order to meet the sustainability demand.