Residents mixed on proposed smoking ban in public housing
The Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed a rule Thursday that would require the more than 3,100 public housing agencies across the country to make their properties smoke-free.
A few apartment buildings under the Sioux Falls Housing and Redevelopment commission are already smoke free but the type of public housing in the city might be a challenge.
HUD Secretary Julian Castro said, “This proposed rule will help improve the health of more than 760,000 children and help public housing agencies save $153 million every year in healthcare, repairs and preventable fires”.
The law would prohibit smoking inside homes, in common areas and in housing offices. Hookahs & electronic cigarettes weren’t included within the proposed rule, though the agency is in search of remark on whether or not to incorporate them within the last regulation. The goal behind the ban, which would be implemented over 18 months in more than 1 million housing units, is to reduce incidents of secondhand smoke, as well as minimize fire risk and maintenance costs associated with smoking indoors.
“Residents of the housing authority suffer disproportionately from diseases like diabetes and heart disease and asthma, and so these people also can not choose to live in an apartment complex that is already protecting their health”, said Tobacco Free Wyandotte Coordinator Rebecca Garza.
In addition, secondhand smoke causes hundreds of newborns to die each year from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, the surgeon general estimates. They can’t sit on their balcony because other people above or below them are smoking.
The change will affect groups with a few of the highest smoking rates, said Vince Willmore, a spokesman for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
“They ain’t going to evict me”.
Shauna Sorrells, director of public housing programs for HUD, told The NY Times in 2011 that one reason HUD hadn’t yet required a nationwide ban was that the mandate could result in families being evicted because one member smoked.
Norma Perez was happy to hear about HUD’s proposed smoking ban.
“Public housing residents are among the least healthy populations in the country”, Michener said in a statement. The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal.
Shola Olatoye, the chairwoman and chief executive of the NY City Housing Authority (NYCHA), told the Times, “For us, the major issue is our ability to enforce something like this”. The ban would also apply to administrative offices. “The other half are families with children”, she said.