According to Akiva Bigman of "Mida" magazine, as of 2012 (a decade after the approval of the outline plan), no family has purchased land and settled in accordance with Israeli law. Only about a quarter (1,200) of the 5,000 residents of Bir Hadaj are located within the outline plan, and none of them live in the plots allocated by the program. In addition, many of the residents live and build outside the village, in the Ramat Negev Regional Council, although the jurisdiction area of the village is entirely in the area of Neve Midbar regional council. According to David Cohen, a member of the committee of settlement arrangement policy in the Negev, the rest of the residents that live outside the city limits are in its surroundings, in an area that spans about 20,000 dunams. According to Nature and Parks Authority, the rapid spread of the settlement located along the northern boundary of the nature reserve Holot Mashavim, is threatening the existence of the reserve.