Mississippi city’s public housing communities to ban smoking

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi city is making its public housing communities smoke free.

The Oxford Eagle reports the move is a part of new U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development restrictions adopted last year. Those restrictions require all public housing agencies nationwide to develop a non-smoking policy by July 30, 2018.

The agency says smoke-free policies reduce property maintenance costs, unit turnover time and the risk of fires. Consequences for violating the policy are not finalized, though many public housing authorities use verbal and written warnings. However, the policy does allow for residents to be evicted after multiple violations.

The Oxford Housing Authorities’ four public housing communities will not allow people to smoke inside or within 25 feet of a building starting Aug. 1.