Carbon emissions from residential buildings have a great impact on climate change. Consequently, many countries are taking actions to build more energy efficient buildings. In Mexico, some guidance to support the delivery of more sustainable houses, especially in the social housing sector, have been put in place. The Passive House Institute and the German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation in collaboration with the Mexican government are exploring the incorporation of the passive house standards to typical social housing schemes in Mexico. In this work, the authors have explored the most suitable passive design strategies for cooling including natural ventilation in the hot and dry climate of Hermosillo, Mexico. A survey was developed and deployed to a typical case study social housing development in Hermosillo in order to obtain more detailed information about their occupants. Four sets of dynamic building simulations were undertaken in order to explore how much comfort can be delivered by passive cooling strategies alone. The first two phases included energy performance analyses of a typical house and the incorporation of passive design strategies. The third phase included the energy performance of a new proposed architectural design for the house, including a new fenestration design and the addition of a courtyard. The fourth phase included thermal performance and natural ventilation analyses of three different designs in order to evaluate the improvement in hours of comfort. The results showed that the most effective strategy applied was the insulation of roof and walls. The most important architectural design elements to consider were the location of windows due to their solar gains and the cross ventilation that they allowed in the house. With regard to natural ventilation strategies, nighttime ventilation was consider the best for the summer period, although in the hottest days this increased the hours of discomfort in the house due to the high outside temperatures. Nevertheless, the survey responses indicated that the occupants felt more comfortable when there was air movement even if the temperature was higher. However, occupants also indicated that they would open their windows only during the day due to safety reasons.