Tenants’ reactions are mixed to public housing smoking ban

Around 400,000 NYCHA residents will soon be banned from smoking in their homes.

“It’s a real threat, and we’re very concerned”, said Staci Berger, president of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey. “I mean, it’s outside, the air outside, I believe it’s OK”. If you endanger yourself personally, your lungs, it’s a choice – it’s your choice.

HUD said surveys indicate that most public housing residents back the ban but that it would support local agencies as they implement the rule.

“(HUD) chose to come here because we were the first really large housing authority in the nation to go smoke-free”, said Kate Bennett, the BHA’s deputy administrator for planning and sustainability. During this time, more than 600 organizations have adopted smoke-free policies.

“There’s a reason that we have professional civil servants in government at every level, and that’s because administrations change and people who have been involved in this work and know how the day-to-day operations of the institution function continue to be there”, said Berger. “It’s not good for my health”.

The federal rule would only apply to the 69 Bay State housing authorities that include federally-funded units and it would “not necessarily” apply to the state-funded buildings under those authorities’ control, Connelly said. E-cigarettes, or electronic cigarettes, are the only exception to the rule.

Rodriguez said he smokes outside but some of his neighbors smoke in their apartments. “There are a lot of things that were put on the table, and I’m thinking about them”. “Do you want them to buy a bottle and start drinking?”

“Smoke-free housing is a win-win – residents breath better and it costs housing authorities less when their buildings are smoke free”, Regional Senior Director Pat McKone said in a statement. It is also sound fiscal policy that HUD estimates will save public housing agencies $153 million a year in health care costs, repairs and preventable fires.

Simmons said that while some tenants “felt their rights were being violated”, there have been few problems since the ban went into effect.

Maintenance worker Henry Bey says he has had to clean up many an apartment at the complex.

All units of public housing must become smoke-free within 18 months, the Obama administration announced Wednesday.

He said residents will be warned about smoking violations with the last resort being the person losing their home. Children with asthma are especially sensitive to secondhand smoke, and may suffer from more frequent asthma attacks and more and longer hospitalizations as a result.

More than 100,000 fires nationwide are caused by smoking annually, according to the health department.