Question

• All articles must be recent, the beginning of the semester forward.
  
  
• The article must relate to at least two of the following learning outcome:
  • Explain the concept of spillovers and their impact on resources allocation, and the corrective actions needed.
• 

Answer 1

Public housing agencies are asking for more time and resources to put in effect a proposed federal ban on smoking that would affect nearly one million households nationwide.

Officials with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development said they had heard from the agencies, public health organizations and residents in more than 1,000comments received over 60 days on a proposed federal rule to ban smoking inside public housing units. The officials, who announced the proposal in November, are now reviewing those comments before finalizing the rule.

The New York City Housing Authority, the largest in the country with 178,000 apartments spread among 328 sites, is asking for three years, rather than the proposed 18 months, to put the ban in place. The first two years would be for an education campaign, with the enactment of the ban to follow in the third year.

In her comments, Shola Olatoye, chairwoman of the authority, said that residents had shown support for a ban in surveys but that the prohibition must be phased in gradually and with “widespread resident embrace.”

Other public housing officials said the ban was too tall a task if additional federal funds were not provided to educate residents, offer smoking cessation programs and ensure compliance.

The Public Housing Authorities Directors Association, representing administrators from about 1,900 authorities, said absent additional money, voluntary smoke-free policies were a more realistic option.

“The rule is an unfunded mandate which adds considerable burden, financially and administratively, to programs that have consistently received wholly inadequate funding,” wrote Timothy G. Kaiser, the association’s executive director.

HUD officials said the proposed ban was an effort to protect residents from secondhand smoke, reduce the risk of fire and lower overall maintenance costs. More than 600 public housing agencies, or about 20 percent of 3,200, have banned indoor smoking since 2009 when the federal department began pressing for smoke-free policies.

The proposed rule would require housing agencies to ban lit cigarettes, cigars and pipes in all living units, indoor common areas, administrative offices and all outdoor areas within 25 feet of housing and office buildings. (HUD is seeking feedback on whether to ban electronic cigarettes and water pipes.)

Enforcement is a major concern. Federal officials say they want to avoid evictions, but the ban would be included in leases, and smoking violations would be treated like other nuisance violations.

The public housing directors association noted that those with mobility problems, such as older adults and people with disabilities and mental illnesses, might end up being the most vulnerable to evictions if they continued smoking at home.

In New York, Ms. Olatoye is adamant that enforcement would be handled by staff and not the police, who have a large presence in many housing projects and have had a significant — and sometimes contentious — role in enforcing the housing authority’s rules.

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

In an interview, Ms. Olatoye said she had already had discussions with the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Mary T. Bassett, to collaborate on educational campaigns that emphasized “a healthy living” perspective rather than, she said, “we’re going to come after you if we smell smoke.”

In her own comments to HUD, Dr. Bassett joined numerous health and medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association, in praising the effort to promote smoke-free housing. She said the city’s 311 help line received hundreds of calls from New Yorkers every month complaining about smoke drifting from one apartment to another.

“These complaints are consistent with studies showing elevated levels of cotinine,” Dr. Bassett wrote, “a biomarker for smoke exposure, in 57 percent of nonsmoking New York City residents, indicating secondhand smoke exposure.”

She recommended making the rule even tougher and including the smoking of hookahs or water pipes, whose popularity, she said, “has increased sharply in recent years, particularly among youth.”

Health officials said alternatives, such as separating smokers or improving building ventilation, would not eliminate the ills of secondhand smoke, which include higher risk of asthma, heart disease and lung cancer.

Still, reaction among residents of public housing has been mixed, and some opponents of the ban take exception to the government telling people what to do in the privacy of their home.

“This will be another way for the police to harass people living in poverty,” one commenter wrote. “If you are an adult you should be able to choose whether you want to smoke or not.”

But another commenter, who identified himself as a resident of the Binghamton Housing Authority, in Broome County, N.Y., wrote, “Finally!”

“The entire buildings smell of cigarette smoke,” he added. “We need clean air.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/nyregion/public-housing-agencies-seek-more-time-to-enact-smoking-ban.html?ref=topics&_r=0