STORM WATCH

Winter weather advisory in effect as snow, deep cold move in for Brooklyn

Feds mull ban on smoking in public housing

Federal housing regulators have proposed a law that would ban smoking in public housing projects across the country. It would affect all NYCHA buildings in the city. The law would prohibit smoking

News 12 Staff

Nov 13, 2015, 5:16 AM

Updated 3,355 days ago

Share:

Federal housing regulators have proposed a law that would ban smoking in public housing projects across the country.
It would affect all NYCHA buildings in the city.
The law would prohibit smoking inside homes, in common areas and in housing offices.
The goal, according to officials, is to decrease exposure to secondhand smoke.
But some residents have a problem with the move.
"Now they're trying to tell me my mother, that's about to be 70 years old, who is blind and in a wheelchair, has to get up and leave her house anytime she wants to smoke a cigarette," says Kenya Watson, who also lives in a NYCHA building.
Officials are taking 60 days of public comments on the rule before moving forward. If passed, the law would come into effect in about 18 months.