Under a new smoking ban effective immediately, those tenants caught smoking three or more times in apartments or common areas in any of the state’s 85 public housing properties could be evicted. The Hawaii Public Housing Authority would create at least one designated smoking area, but has decided to put the rule in place to make public housing safer and a more pleasant place to live. Tenants would also be prohibited from smoking medical marijuana in their units and public areas other than designated smoking zones.
Executive director for the Hawaii Public Housing Authority, Hakim Ouansafi, stated, “Our mission is very clear. It’s to provide safe, decent and sanitary housing. This does not mean that public housing should be housing for drug dealers. If you want to live peacefully, welcome. Anybody that’s a criminal or up to no good, I will evict them. That’s my responsibility. At the end of the day, we’re landlords. We manage it (public housing) on behalf of taxpayers.” Ouansafi added that the smoking ban would help to create a “safe and healthy environment for all of our tenants.”
Ouansafi stated that there will probably be a 30-day grace period before violation notice are issued. Ouansafi added that out of the 6,000 public housing households, only about 17 people have opposed it. According to the Smoke-free Environments Law Project based in Michigan, approximately 10 percent of public housing authorities nationwide have already banned smoking and the federal government is encouraging more states to do so.
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 5-6-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com
