Expect to see 'No Smoking' signs to crop up in public housings under The Department of Housing and Urban development, Market Place reports.
There is a proposal to ban smoking in the 1.2 million units of public housing under the department and this does not only encompass banning in public areas, but a no smoking policy inside people's apartments too.
In the report, a public housing complex resident in Brooklyn, NY seems unhappy with the proposal. Equanda Willis, 37 years old, shares how she started her two decades stint with smoking; she said that it all started because she wanted to look cool. While she admits to being hooked, Equanda thinks that it's not for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to tell her what things she can or can't do in her own home.
"I believe that people should be able to smoke," Willis said. "If they pay rent there, they should be able to smoke where they want to smoke."
Thirty percent of the income -regardless how much - made by public housing tenants go to rent while the rest is subsidized. Willis, along with other residents question how the policy will be enforced.
"It's gonna be kind of hard," Willis said. "Not unless they're gonna have security guards standing at people's apartments sniffing out smoke. I don't understand how it's gonna work."
In the United States, New York has the largest public housing authority and the public housing developments are currently serving around 400,000 residents.
Concerns have also been raised on how public housing residents who are unable to quit will be handled.
"It's gonna be unfortunate for low-income people and poor people who smoke, to be evicted over smoking in the apartment," Woods said. "Which is going to cause a great dilemma for living situations."
Council of Large Public Housing Authorities is a non-profit that represents 70 of the country's largest housing authorities. Its executive director, Sunia Zaterman, emphasizes that the ban is aimed to control smoking and not evict smokers, adding that the policy will begin with education before punishment.
"We do have a number of housing authorities that have experience in undertaking these kinds of policies and implementing them," Zaterman said.
For its part, HUD has opened the proposed ban up to a period of public comment to hear resident's concerns regarding the policy.
