Menino pushes to ban smoking in public housing

Mayor Thomas Menino is looking to mitigate the effects of secondhand smoke with an initiative that will ban smoking in future Boston Housing Authority public residences.

Menino told The Boston Herald he hopes to ban smoking in at least 100 new residences by this summer.

The new smoke-free housing, which will include residences at Franklin Hill in Dorchester, Washington-Beech in Roslindale and Old Colony, will make up less than two percent of all Boston Housing Authority public housing, according to the article.

According to the Massachusetts Tobacco Cessation &’ Prevention Program, more than 8,000 state residents die from tobacco-related causes annually.

Measures already in place, such as the smoking ban in workplaces, restaurants and bars that has been effect since July 2004 appear, to have made an effect. According to a report by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, exposure to secondhand smoke among adult nonsmokers declined in Massachusetts from 32 percent in 2002 to 15 percent in 2008.

BHA spokeswoman Lydia Agro said the new housing initiative would ban smoking in some residences, and future units will be smoke-free.

Under the current policy, residents are not allowed to smoke in common areas and are only permitted to smoke in their individual residences. The initiative was brought up in response to complaints from residents about secondhand smoke, particularly from residents suffering from asthma, Agro said.

“Some residents have complained about smoke in the hallways and secondhand smoke from common areas,” she said.

Agro said public meetings with the residents of the existing public housing units would need to take place before smoking can be made illegal in the residences.

“[The housing authority] is talking with residents to start engaging in this public process,” she said. “It will require us to draft a new policy before the existing residences can be made smoke- free.”