Regulation of smoking in public housing.

Although the hazards of exposure to tobacco smoke are well established, and laws mandating smoke-free indoor air are widespread, private homes have long been considered spaces beyond the legitimate reach of regulation. Reflecting this view, the federal government has not required public-housing units to be smoke-free. Historically, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has maintained that although local Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) may opt to ban smoking, they are not required to do so. This policy choice has important public health implications, given the difficulty of containing smoke in multiunit housing. More than 7 million people live in public housing in the United States,1 with 4 in 10 units occupied by families with children.2 Residents have had little recourse when they are exposed to tobacco smoke; however, policy and practice in this area are changing. Over the past few years, many private landlords have made their housing units smoke-free for reasons of consumer demand, health, reduced fire hazard, lower insurance costs, and decreased cleaning costs. A small number of local governments have gone further, banning smoking in multifamily residential buildings. In public housing, however, no-smoking policies are rare. To date, only about 140 PHAs across the country (about 4% of the total) have reported that they have voluntarily banned smoking in the publichousing units they manage.3 On July 17, 2009, a shift in federal policy occurred when a key department within HUD issued a memorandum that “strongly encourages Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to implement nonsmoking policies in some or all of their public housing units.”4 This development makes it timely to critically examine the state of the law and policy in this area. In this article, we explore current law concerning residential smoking regulations and consider whether the implementation of a nationwide ban on smoking in public housing would be desirable.