On the eastern end of Long Island, sits Suffolk County and last night the Legislature unanimously approved a measure that allows the county to ban smoking within private housing. The measure applies to common areas of apartment buildings, condominiums and other multi-family housing. The approval grants health officials access to health officials to those areas to enforce the law. The anti-smoking law was sponsored by Monica Martinez, a Democrat from Brentwood and covers apartment complexes […]
As we have reported, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been pushing for the Public Housing Authority to make the properties smoke free. Today, that move will become more than a push as a federal rule proposal would prohibit smoking in apartments and common areas as well as the administrative offices. The measure would affect one million households across the United States. Having lived in New York City, home to the largest public […]
So much for a democracy. The City Council in Manhattan Beach, California passed a new smoking ban that will prohibit smoking in multi-unit residences despite a last-minute plea from the Manhattan Village Homeowners Association who did not want to be included in such a ban. The City Council narrowly passed the measure with a 3-2 vote. The law is an extension of the citywide smoking ban that bans smoking in public places and does not […]
The City Council of Manhattan Beach which banned smoking throughout the city last year, is now looking to extend that ban. The new measures discussed this week would include a smoking ban in multi-family housing units and would regulate the sale of tobacco via retail licensing. The ordinance which will be voted on September 15, would ban smoking inside and outside of multi family housing that contains three units or more. The majority of the council […]
Last week was a bad one for residents of Geneva, New York as they saw a ban on smoking in housing projects as well as a vote that makes it illegal to smoke in city parks. Geneva is located in the Finger Lakes region of NY and the move to ban smoking in parks passed 7-0. The vote was sparked by the youth members of the local Boys & Girls Club. Meanwhile, the city […]
As we reported yesterday, the Philadelphia Housing Authority held a hearing and voted unanimously yesterday to ban smoking in all PHA units. The measure which was unanimously passed without a debate prohibits the 80,000 low-income tenants from lighting up inside their apartments, or on public-housing property except in designated outdoor areas. Those who violate the order will be asked to attend counseling for the first three violations before the risk of losing their lease if the […]
This afternoon the Philadelphia Housing Authority will host a hearing to consider a ban on at least some of its proprieties. If the measure is passed it would make it the largest public housing agency in the United States to implement such a policy. The PHA has approximately 80,000 low-income residents that would be effected by the ban and they would join approximately 500 housing authorities across the nation that have such a ban in […]
The New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio who is expected to be a one term mayor has proposed a new rule to ban smoking at home. The Mayor who has had city police officers turn their backs on him is offering four different health groups $9,000 each to start pressuring landlords to implement the bans which was initially reported by the New York Post. While the proposal right now is voluntarily that could […]
So you sign a lease to live inside an apartment and then the Housing Authority changes the law making it illegal to smoking inside your own apartment. That’s the case in Easton, Massachusetts where the Housing Authority commissioners voted unanimously for a smoking ban inside apartments and in common areas. It may not stop in Easton however, as the state Department of Housing and Community Development sent a letter in April asking housing boards to […]
According to a published report in the Patriot Ledger, the Quincy Housing Authority is considering a smoking ban in its nearly 1600 residential units. The Housing Authority manages 938 state funded and 650 federally funded residential units in the city of Quincy which is south of Boston. The report states that residents were sent out a survey where in which they sought the best way to implement a smoke free housing policy. Some of the […]