SPOKANE-- Low incoming housing tenants are smoking mad because all HUD complexes are considering going smoke free.
All government subsidized housing in Spokane could become permanently smoke-free.
Northeast Washington Housing Solutions controls 15 properties across Spokane.
It sent out surveys to find out how residents feel about a smoking ban, and the results came back mixed.
Chris Baker enjoys a pack of cigarettes a day.
The disabled veteran says even though she’s lived in government subsidized housing for two years, the government shouldn’t be allowed to tell her how to live.
She says the government can’t threaten to evict people because of a legal habit.
But Northeast Washington Housing Solutions says with a ban in place, it can.
Lucy Lepinski for Northeast Washington Housing Solutions says a tenant would receive up to three warnings and then they would determine if the resident’s tenancy needed to be terminated.
She says first they want to find out what their residents think.
Other residents, including a former smoker, are excited about the idea.
Milene Rogers says smoking can really affect a person, especially if that person has asthma, but she says she doesn’t want to see anyone kicked out of their home.
Some are suggesting compromises such as putting all of the smokers in one building.
Lepinski says she is open to those kinds of suggestions from residents, but complaints about cigarette smoke can’t be ignored.
Lepinski says the housing authority will be reading over the surveys for the next couple of months.
Then the board will decide whether to ban smoking in all HUD housing.
