Public Housing Smoking Ban
There are many ways we can look at one single matter. The federal smoking ban that prohibits the smoking of cigarettes in public housing has a very clear theme: Smoking is indeed something that’s injurious to health and when you ban the use of it in public, it can only be for the good. When it comes to housing, many landlords already prohibit the usage of cigarettes within the premises because not only is it bad for health but as we all know, it’s also a fire hazard. The federal government also agrees with the landlords on this matter and most of the members of senate find it highly plausible to approve the federal smoking ban.
Having said that, this ban is going to affect over a million public housing units across the country and it would also include its implementation in over 3 thousand housing agencies within a period of 1 and a half years. So all things considered, is this ban the right move to make? Let’s analyze:
How is banning public housing smoking good?
The first point worth raising is that it would definitely save the government a lot of money. A study done by CDC in 2014 revealed that if there was no smoking in public housing, it would mean an annual yield of over a hundred and fifty million.
Another reason why it should be considered a positive step is that over 500 thousand public housing schemes are laden with elderly people. Apart from this, the number of children living is such projects is remarkably high too. This makes them protected from the menace of smoke.
How is public housing smoking bad?
The plan is not funded and the owners would have to incur the costs for implementing this ban themselves.
Another reason worth mentioning is that there is no such law that will protect the landowners if they fail to make sure that the inhabitants of the housing schemes quit smoking. So is it worth the risk?
All being said, the government should micro-analyze before taking a step in any direction with respect to this ban.
