Smoking ban in social housing worries Thunder Bay advocate - Action News
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Thunder Bay

Smoking ban in social housing worries Thunder Bay advocate

A mental health group says the District Social Services Administration Board should help new tenants quit smoking if it wants them to stop lighting up in their suites.

New policy exempts current tenants, but bans tenants moving in after Sept. 1 from smoking indoors

New tenants in some Thunder Bay social housing complexes will have to butt-out starting Sept. 1. (Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press)

A spokesperson for a Thunder Bay mental health consumers group says the District Social Services Administration Board, or DSSAB, should help new social housing tenants quit smoking if it wants to stop them lighting up in their suites.

Jasmine Cotnam of PACE said she's worried a new ban on smoking in social housing could result in smokers losing their homes.
Jasmine Cotnam of the advocacy group PACE says she's worried a new ban on smoking in social housing could result in smokers losing their homes. (healthsciencesfoundation.ca)

"I think it's going to cause a lot of unnecessary evictions," Cotnam said, adding that if smokers are being asked to quit smoking indoors, there should be supports in place to help them kick the habit.

The DSSAB adopted a new policy at its board meeting last week, banning smoking in all the buildings itownsand operates, including in private suites.

The policy exempts current tenants, but bans tenants moving in afterSept. 1from smoking indoors.

The board will help connect tenants with smoking cessation programs in the community, saidDSSAB chief administrative officerBill Bradica.
Bill Bradica, chief administrative officer for the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board, said the board will help direct tenants to smoking cessation services when it implements its smoking ban in social housing this fall. (Nicole Ireland/CBC )

It will only evict tenants as a last resort, after repeated violations of the smoking ban, he added.

"What we want to do is work with people and try to help them find resources that might be able to assist them," he said.

The Thunder Bay District Health Unit offers both one-on-one counselling and group workshops, free of charge, to those who need help kicking the habit, said JanicePiper, the health unit's manager of injury prevention, substancemisuse and tobacco.

Bradica said the DSSABhas receiveda number of complaints from non-smoking tenants about second-hand smoke in buildings and is concerned about the cancer-causing effects of the smoke on non-smoking tenants.