Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
STUB OUT SMOKING IN SOCIAL HOUSING
Ban urged as blight twice as bad across council estates
SOCIAL housing tenants could be ordered to stop smoking in the latest blitz on the unhealthy habit.
The recommendation was made in a report that found smoking is now “highly concentrated” on council estates, where it is twice as common.
Tenants are also less likely to quit despite trying as often as other smokers, it adds.
The report, by two All Party Parliamentary Groups and charity Ash, proposes new social housing could be designated smoke-free – and suggests offering tenants vaping kits. It also points out that most private landlords include no-smoking clauses in agreements.
Ash’s Hazel Cheeseman said: “We are not saying all new developments should be [smoke-free] but it’s something that housing associations should look at.
“Their housing for nurses and doctors is already smoke-free, as is housing for students. Moving house is a great time to change your behaviour so you smoke outside or, better still, quit altogether.” The report, co-authored by the APPG on Healthy Homes and Buildings and the APPG on Smoking and Health, calls for “action closer to where people live”. Passive smoking is particularly dangerous for children.
Social housing has been falling since the Tories began selling council houses in the 1980s. It covered 17% of households in 2016/17, with 3.9 million homes. Co-author Lee Sugden, of housing association Salix Homes, said: “[Smoking] is disproportionately harming the communities we house and we should ask ourselves what we are doing about it.” Last year, the Government blocked a smoking ban in beer gardens after warnings it would lead to pub closures.