Government Subsidized Housing
It is legal, and justified, for owners and managers of
government subsidized housing to adopt smoke-free policies.
If you own or manage Section 8 properties, public housing, or other government subsidized affordable housing units, you can adopt a smoke-free policy, with notice to tenants.
To adopt a smoke-free policy in subsidized housing you have two options:
- Add a smoke-free clause to the house rules. As long as the smoke-free policy meets the standard HUD criteria for house rules, this policy change does not require HUD approval OR
- Make a smoke-free policy a condition of the lease. Those using HUD’s model lease are required to seek HUD approval before any lease changes can be made.
HUD requires at least 30 days (written) notice of a lease change or adoption of a house rule. A tenant’s lease may not be changed without their consent before the date of lease renewal. The Smoke-Free Environments Law Project of Michigan recommends that landlords provide a period of 60-90 days of reasonable notice to all tenants before any lease changes are made.
A letter from HUD’s Seattle Regional Office Legal Counsel written back in October 2004 stated that, as long as they were in compliance with state and local laws, that it was permissible for landlords to adopt smoke-free policies and that “there is no written policy requiring grandfathering of any tenant.”
There are currently thirteen housing authorities in Maine that have adopted a smoke-free, or tobacco-free, policy in at least one of their buildings. Housing authorities’ treatment of current tenants when a smoke free or tobacco free policy is instituted range from unlimited grandfathering of use (no current tenant who smokes/uses tobacco need comply—only new tenants) to no grandfathering (all tenants, including current tenants, must comply with the new policy). The scope of a policy may be building-wide or campus-wide. It may require no smoking or no use or tobacco products (including smokeless products).
If you would like personal technical assistance, please call the Smoke-Free Housing Coalition of Maine at (207) 874-8774.
The following housing authorities manage smoke-free and/or tobacco-free facilities:
- Auburn Housing Authority
- Bangor Housing Authority
- Bar Harbor Housing Authority
- Bath Housing Authority
- Brunswick Housing Authority
- Brewer Housing Authority
- Ellsworth Housing Authority
- Fort Fairfield Housing Authority
- Lewiston Housing Authority
- Mount Desert Island Housing Authority
- Old Town Housing Authority
- Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Reservation Housing Authority (new complex)
- Presque Isle Housing Authority
- Sanford Housing Authority
- South Portland Housing Authority
- Southwest Harbor Housing Authority
- Tremont Housing Authority
- Waterville Housing Authority
- Westbrook Housing Authority
If you receive Section 8/Housing Choice Vouchers from a local or state housing authority, it is important to check with that agency before making any changes to your current lease.
MaineHousing provides a one-point incentive for developers of affordable housing seeking Low Income Housing Tax Credits. The 2008/2009 Qualified Allocation Plan’s smoke-free language states:
An Applicant who establishes a policy prohibiting smoking in all units and common areas of the Project will receive 1 point. The Applicant must develop and maintain a written occupancy policy that prohibits smoking in the units and the common areas of the Project, include a non-smoking clause in the lease for every household and make educational materials on tobacco treatment programs, including the phone number for the statewide Maine Tobacco HelpLine, available to all residents of the Project through the resident service coordinator. The Applicant shall commit to satisfy these requirements in the Application and the detailed service plan required pursuant to Section 6.D.13. of this Rule shall include making the tobacco treatment program educational materials available to residents.
To learn more about MaineHousing’s Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, please visit MaineHousing.
Please see our page HUD Letter for
more information on rules regarding federally subsidized housing.
Please see our sample leases:
Official HUD Notice Endorsing the Adoption of Smoke-Free Policies by Public Housing Authorities: PIH-2009- 21 (HA)--Non-Smoking Policies in Public Housing
The information and materials contained on this website are for informational purposes only and are not offered or intended to be and should not be construed to be legal advice nor to be a substitute for obtaining legal advice from a licensed attorney.