On Wednesday the federal government ruled to ban smoking in public housing nationwide. The ban won’t go into effect until early next year, but agencies will have a year and a half to put the rule in place, reported the New York Times.
Officials said despite about 200,000 homes already living under the ban, which would affect an addition 1.2 million households. That includes 178,000 apartments, with over 400,000 residents, owned by the New York City Housing Authority, the largest public housing agency in the U.S.
Smoking is currently not permitted in the hallways and lobbies of public housing buildings, but the ban would extend beyond that to banning smoking inside people’s homes. The ban will prohibit people from smoking cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, and pipes in public housing buildings and within 25 feet of those buildings. E-cigarettes, or electronic cigarettes, are the only exception to the rule.
Housing Authority officials said police won’t be enforcing the new rule. Public housing that adopted non-smoking rules early on said they enforced non-smoking through warnings and fines, but also by providing people with counseling and things meant to physically help people who smoke cope, like nicotine patches.
The ban would help reduce secondhand smoke (passed between apartments) which can lead to or exacerbate asthma and lung cancer with health officials noting more ventilation didn’t help with the consequences of secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke would affect people including 760,000 people living in public housing. Housing officials also said public housing authorities would save money in fires and damages caused by fire or for fixing “smoke-damaged units.”
Julián Castro, the Housing and Urban Development secretary said, “Public housing will go smoke-free and remain smoke-free, and because of that so many folks are going to live healthier lives and have a better shot at reaching their dreams because they have good health.”
