Tenants fight smoking ban

Tenants are challenging a Housing and Urban Development rule that requires local public housing authorities across the US to prohibit people from smoking in their homes, according to a story by Jacob Sullum for Reason magazine.
A policy that is scheduled to take effect on Monday prohibits smoking in and near public housing throughout the country, affecting 1.2 million households in units managed by about 3,300 local agencies.
Sullum quoted a 2016 Observer editorial, as saying the policy ‘may be the most far-reaching, intrusive and over-reaching executive order of the entire Obama administration’.
In a lawsuit filed yesterday, six smokers who live in public housing argue that the ban violates their rights, exceeds the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s statutory authority, cannot be justified as a regulation of interstate commerce, and unconstitutionally commandeers state and local officials by ordering them to carry out federal policy.
The smoking ban, which covers low-income housing that is federally subsidized but owned and operated by local public housing authorities, applies to living units as well as common areas and extends to a zone 25 feet around each building.