Articles and Links
Smoking issues in apartments in
Massachusetts, United States
July 21, 2016
I will post articles and links as I find them (this can mean daily or frequently during the day).
Please check in for updates.

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Adams
Bedford
Boston
Cambridge
Easton
Fall River
Fitchburg

Harvard
Ipswich
Lowell
Mattapoisett
New Bedford
Newton
Northborough

North Adams
Peabody
Pittsfield
Quincy
Salem
Sharon

Springfield
Statewide
Watertown
Wellesley
Westport
Worcester

Adams

7/1/14 Millhouses of Adams joins trend of smoke-free apartment complexes Berkshire Eagle The 98-unit Millhouses of Adams apartment complex on Commercial Street has joined a growing movement in Berkshire County by going "smoke-free."

Bedford

12/28/12 Guest View: No place for tobacco smoke in multi-unit housing South Coast Today A study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Dec. 14 reported that an estimated 27 million to 29 million Americans living in multi-unit housing are exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke in their homes even though they don't allow smoking in their homes.

Boston

2/20/15

'Green' Public Housing May Help Families Breathe Easier

HealthDay.com Smoking is banned, and use of chemical pesticides has been slashed -- two moves the BHA has now extended to all public housing, according to background information in the study.
4/30/15

The plight of the Smoking Man

Boston Globe He’s the tenant who couldn’t adjust to the landlord’s ban on smoking in the building I live in.
9/4/14 Smoke-free building policies cut indoor exposure: study Reuters Health Apartment dwellers who don’t smoke still can’t escape second-hand smoke completely, but in smoke-free buildings exposure to the tiny particles in cigarette smoke may be cut by half or more, according to a new study.
7/23/14 Comparison of Indoor Air Quality in Smoke-Permitted and Smoke-Free Multiunit Housing: Findings From the Boston Housing Authority Nicotine and Tobacco Research Building-wide smoke-free policies are a logical step to minimize smoke exposure in these settings.
8/26/14 (Posted 3/7/14) Making the Business Case for Prevention: Smoke-free Multiunit Housing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Find out why smoke-free housing is a smart business decision that also aims to improve public health.
4/3/14 Patrick makes new push for smoke-free public housing in Massachusetts masslive.com The administration of Gov. Deval Patrick plans to issue new guidelines to local housing authorities, encouraging them to adopt smoke-free policies in publicly funded units and buildings.
10/28/13 Weed out pot-smoking tenants with ultimatum Boston Herald My next-door neighbors smoke weed. Lots of weed. I come home and it’s like there’s a stoner convention in my living room, it smells so bad.
1/31/13

Researchers Identify Involuntary Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Boston Public Housing Authority Residents with Salivary Cotinine Testing from Salimetrics.

prweb.com Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital recently conducted a study of residents living in Boston public housing to assess tobacco smoke exposure.
01/2013
Tobacco smoke exposure in a sample of Boston public housing residents.
National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) There is no safe level of tobacco smoke exposure
9/28/12 Boston set to become largest city in US to ban smoking in public housing Boston.com Next week, Boston will become largest city in the country to ban smoking in public housing.
4/29/12 Apartment dwellers often subjected to neighbors' tobacco smoke Eurekalert.org Studies have shown that tobacco smoke can seep from one apartment into another.

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Cambridge

4/29/14 Cambridge Bans Smoking in Public Housing WGBH News As health concerns have marginalized smoking as a public practice, many in public housing units no longer offer the option of smoking or nonsmoking apartments.
9/26/13 Cambridge Housing Authority bans smoking in its buildings The Boston Globe Over objections that they would be forcing elderly smokers out into the cold, Cambridge Housing Authority commissioners voted Wednesday to ban smoking in their buildings, joining Boston and other cities that are snuffing out cigarettes in public housing.
9/1/13 LETTER: CHA should be commended for proposed smoking ban WickedLocal.com While Massachusetts’ smoke-free workplace law protects people in the workplace, multi-unit housing residents are exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes.

Easton

4/30/15

Easton Housing Authority bans smoking in apartments Enterprise News On June 1, that will end, as the Easton Housing Authority commissioners voted recently to institute a smoking ban inside housing units and common areas at all of the authority’s properties.

Fall River

12/20/12 LETTER: The importance of smoke-free housing The Herald News A study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last Friday reported that an estimated 27 to 29 million Americans living in multi-unit housing are exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke in their homes, even though they don’t allow smoking in their homes.

Fitchburg

1/27/16

Fitchburg Housing Authority clears the air Sentinel and Enterprise The Housing Authority has been diligently working on this transition, and more than 300 housing units recently became smoke-free.

Harvard

4/20/12 Harvard Students Promote Smoke-Free Graduate Housing The Harvard Crimson Two Harvard graduate students have recently launched a campaign to ban smoking in all Harvard graduate student housing.

Ipswich

4/26/15

Smoking mad over Ipswich Housing Authority ban Wicked Local The Ipswich Housing Authority voted for the smoking ban on its properties to take effect inside as of Jan. 1 and outside, April 1.

Lowell

5/11/14 LHA units will go smoke-free Lowell Sun The Lowell Housing Authority's 1,896 units will now be smoke-free, after the adoption of anti-smoking policy on May 1.

Mattapoisett

2/26/16

Mattapoisett Housing Authority

wanderer.com All it takes is one smoker to burn the place down.

New Bedford

11/191/13 Guest View: New Bedford's public housing residents support smoke-free policy SouthCoastToday.com A primary partner of SCHHWI is the New Bedford Housing Authority, which will institute a smoke-free policy in all its developments on Jan. 1.

Newton

8/19/13 Newton Public Housing Goes Smoke-Free The Newton Patch The Newton Housing Authority has announced that the majority of its units are now smoke-free, a transition that began more than two years ago.

North Adams

1/3/13 Smoking ban coming for residents of North Adams Housing Authority North Adams Transcript North Adams Housing Authority is moving toward a policy to ban smoking by May in housing it provides for low-income individuals and families.

Northborough

7/2/13 Should Smoking be allowed in Apartments? WickedLocal.com I read an interesting article about laws that are being passed in different parts of the country where smoking is not allowed in rental units.

Peabody

10/25/13 Woman Complains Neighbor 'Always Smoking Weed' Inside Building (halfway down the page) Peabody Patch 11:09 p.m. A caller at a Washington Street apartment reported her neighbor was always smoking weed inside the building. An officer spoke with the male and he denied smoking anything, although the officer said there was a very faint smell. The neighbor was advised to open her window clear out the smell.

Pittsfield

7/23/13 Pittsfield Housing Authority moves to make its units no-smoking The Berkshire Eagle The Pittsfield Housing Authority is moving toward implementing a no-smoking policy at all the public housing it oversees -- an idea that's getting support from tenants, according to the executive director.

Quincy

3/26/15 OUR OPINION: Quincy, Hull right to consider limits on smoking The Patriot Ledger While some tenants – smokers, of course – argue that their rights as rent-paying citizens would be infringed upon if smoking in their own homes was prohibited, others – nonsmokers, naturally – argue that secondhand smoke infiltrates their homes, making the air odiferous and even dangerous.
3/25/15 No decision yet whether Quincy smoking ban will include marijuana Bolton Wicked Local In Braintree, where the town’s housing authority plans to impose a smoking ban on its properties beginning Sept. 1, smoking medical marijuana will be part of the ban.
3/24/15 Reaction mixed to proposed smoking ban at Quincy public housing properties PatriotLedger.com Quincy Housing Authority Executive Director James Lydon cited safety concerns and maintenance costs as to why his agency is considering imposing a smoking ban across all of its publicly-subsidized properties in Quincy.

Salem

4/7/14 Smoking bans being considered for public housing The Salem News At the start of this year, the nearly 300 apartments and duplexes overseen by the Danvers Housing Authority went smoke-free.

Sharon

7/13/16

Sharon public housing is mixed on smoking issue

Sharon.WickedLocal.com Smoking is becoming an ugly habit of the past at a growing number of apartment and condo developments.
1/31/15 Sharon Housing Authority's complexes going smoke-free Wicked Local The Sharon Housing Authority has announced that it will become a smoke-free housing complex as of April 1.

Springfield

3/17/15

Springfield Housing Authority bans use of e-cigarettes at its properties

MassLive.com The Springfield Housing Authority, citing concern of health risks from the vapor, have banned electronic smoking materials from housing authority properties.
3/27/13 Smoking to be banned outside Springfield public housing WWLP.com SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - For residents of public housing owned by the Springfield Housing Authority , smoking has been banned inside their apartments for the last year. Now, they will no longer be able to smoke outside as well.
4/2/12 Springfield Housing Authority smoking ban WWLP 22 News Beginning Monday, April 2nd, the Springfield Housing Authority is putting a ban on smoking.
4/2/12 Springfield Housing Authority apartments are now smoke-free WWLP 22 News The Springfield Housing Authority launched the first phase of its new smoke-free policy Monday, requiring that all SHA apartments and other indoor areas be free of smoke.

Statewide

4/2/14 Smoking ban secondhand news in some housing units Lowell Sun Gov. Deval Patrick's administration earlier this month released guidelines encouraging all of the state's local housing authorities to implement no-smoking policies in units that receive state funding.
4/23/14 Snuffing out smoking in public housing in Massachusetts Sun Chronicle Massachusetts is on the way to stubbing out smoking in public housing apartments.
10/10/13 GUEST OPINION: Demand for smoke-free multi-unit housing on the rise HeraldNews.com The market demand for smoke-free multi-unit housing is on the rise in Massachusetts.
3/30/13 Springfield expands smoking ban in public housing WHDH 7 NEWS The Springfield Housing Authority is expanding its ban on smoking to areas outside its properties, one year after the agency ordered residents and visitors to stop smoking inside its buildings.
3/28/13 Bill eyes smoking ban for apartments condos LowellSun.com

A bill sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Benson, D-Lunenburg, would ban smoking in apartments and condos, a prohibition that local housing authorities say would be complicated to implement and lack widespread support.

3/18/13 Mass. bill would ban smoking in apartments Telegram.com But the retired Lunenburg lawyer said it's no easy task since most apartments and condominiums allow smoking.

Watertown

7/6/12 Judge dismisses Watertown Coolidge School smoking case WickedLocal.com In the legal sense, the dispute over alleged smoking at Watertown's Coolidge School apartments has come to an end.

Wellesley

12/2/15 Wellesley Housing Authority: Smoking ban takes hold Wickedlocal.com “It’s been pretty successful so far,” said Debra Jordan, executive director of both the Wellesley and Needham housing authorities.

Westport

7/3/14 Westport Housing authority goes smoke-free southcoasttoday.com The Westport Housing Authority recently introduced a new policy to its residents, making its property at 666 State Road smoke-free as of June 15.

Worcester

2/24/16

Some Housing Authorities Ban Smoking Inside Residences

nepr.net Even when people checked off that they did smoke… they did want to see a smoke-free environment where they lived,” says Smith.
2/22/16 Worcester Housing Authority to go smoke free telegram.com The Worcester Housing Authority announced Monday it will ban smoking inside all of its properties beginning April 1, and a handful of people gathered Monday afternoon outside apartment buildings in Great Brook Valley mostly said the ban was understandable.
12/14/14

Central Mass. public housing sites are kicking smoking habit

News Telegram Oxford, like several other municipal housing authorities in the region, plans to go smoke-free in its two state-assisted housing complexes next spring.
8/29/14 Smokers challenge rule change at Northbridge complex Telegram.com A Whitinsville couple appeared in Worcester Housing Court Thursday to fight an eviction from the Linwood Mill senior affordable housing complex, claiming the property managers changed the rules to prohibit smoking after the longtime smokers moved in more than a year ago.

"But now God has shown us a different way to heaven - not by "being good enough" and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago). Now God says he will accept and acquit us - declare us "not guilty" - if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious ideal; yet now God declares us "not guilty" of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins." Romans 3:21-24 Living Bible