HUD seeks to ban smoking in public housing

By Robert King, Robert King

Published December 20, 2015

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The federal government is taking far-reaching steps to curb smoking by forcing public housing to be entirely smoke-free.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released a proposed rule Thursday to require more than 3,100 public housing agencies across the country to make their properties smoke-free.

"This proposed rule will help improve the health of more than 760,000 children and help public housing agencies save $153 million every year in healthcare, repairs and preventable fires," HUD Secretary Julian Castro said.