Up In Smoke: Norfolk's Public Housing

No Smoking signs could be posted on Norfolk's public housing by next year.

Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing authority officials want to ban smoking “to protect non-smoking residents from secondhand smoke, prevent cigarette fires and reduce the cost of rehabbing a vacant apartment.”

The policy, if approved, would prohibit the smoking of cigarettes, pipes, electronic cigarettes and marijuana on housing authority properties.

The proposal was presented to the housing authority 7-member board of commissioners Wednesday, Oct. 29. No vote was taken on the draft policy. 

Should the board approve the citywide policy, it would take effect July 1, 2015.

The prohibition would follow the nationwide trend in no smoking policies in government office buildings and private offices, bars and restaurants and in many cases rental properties.
In fiscal year 2010, 3,115 households, totaling 7,772 residents, lived in 11 government subsidized communities owned and managed by the housing authority, according to an economic impact study done by the William & Mary Mason School of Business in 2011.

Yet the policy would be more restrictive than no smoking policies in and around private rentals. Smoking would be prohibited, according to the policy, inside all housing authority properties, within 25-feet of a housing authority building and in a vehicle within 25-feet of an NRHA owned building.

NRHA spends three-quarters of its $90 million budget on housing, all of which is funded by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development.

According to HUD, as of January 2012, more than 250 public housing authorities have prohibited smoking. There are approximately 1.2 million households living in public housing units, managed by some 3,300 housing authorities, HUD estimates.

HUD has “strongly” encouraged public housing authorities, as well as owners and managers of Section 8 housing, a federal program to subsidize a portion of rent, to adopt smoke free policies since 2009. Yet the federal agency has stopped short of issuing a mandate to housing authorities. 

Residents who violate the policy will receive two warnings. Residents will receive a verbal warning for the first violation and a letter for the second violation. A third violation results in a mandatory meeting. Residents who fail to show up at the meeting may have their lease terminated.

The prohibition applies to residents, members of the household, guests, service providers and contractors. The policy doesn't exclude smokers as tenants.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report last year, saying that smoke-free subsidized housing would save $521 million a year.

The bulk of those annual savings – $341 million – would come from reduced health care expenditures related to secondhand smoke, the CDC said in a prepared statement. The study also estimates savings of $108 million in annual renovation expenses and $72 million in annual smoking-related fire loses, the CDC said.

Studies have shown that people who live in multi-unit housing can be particularly affected by unwanted secondhand smoke exposure, the CDC said. Other studies have shown that most people who live in subsidized housing favor smoke-free policies, according to the CDC.

"This new study reinforces the importance of the Housing and Urban Development initiative to promote the adoption of smoke-free housing policies in public housing and other federally-assisted multifamily housing," said Sandra Henriquez, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing. 

"We have seen considerable momentum in the number of public housing agencies across the country adopting this policy, which saves health and housing costs, in places like Boston, San Antonio, Seattle, and all public housing in the state of Maine."