Hopkins Approves Smoking Ban in Dow Towers

Dow Towers will soon be a no-smoking zone.

Hopkins' Housing and Redevelopment Authority approved a ban on smoking inside the subsidized housing building, to go in effect Jan. 1 for new residents and June 1 for those already living there. The Hopkins City Council serves as the city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

"I think it's high time public buildings are smoke free, and anything paid for by the taxpayers should be," said City Councilman Bruce Rowan.

Housing staffers started researching the ban in 2009, after the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development sent a notice strongly encouraging them to prohibit smoking in subsidized housing. Such bans weren't completely unheard of then, and now about 40 housing and redevelopment authorities in Minnesota have smoke-free policies.

Health concerns play a big role in this push. Public Housing Manager Stacy Unowsky compared restrictions on smoking in subsidized housing to broader prohibitions against smoking in public buildings. Minnesota's 2007 Freedom to Breathe Provisions are perhaps the best known of these. The provisions ban smoking in most indoor public spaces.

There is also a financial incentive. Because of cleaning costs, turning over a smoking apartment to a new tenant can cost four to five times as much as turning over a non-smoking apartment. In one recent example, it cost $1,200 to get a smoking unit ready for a new tenant. For a non-smoking apartment, it typically costs a couple hundred dollars. The 76-unit building typically turns over seven to eight apartments per year.

"We're just a one-building operation, so you can see how it would have an effect," Unowsky said.

Some residents, who wouldn't give their names for this story, worried the measure would be particularly harsh to the disabled and others can't easily get outside to the smoking area. They also questioned whether it will be enforceable, especially late at night.

Unowsky said the Hopkins Housing and Redevelopment Authority is taking steps to minimize their concerns. The process began with resident surveys, educational sessions and comment periods before the approval of the ban. Among the ideas arising from those efforts is a smoking cessation partnership with Live Smoke Free, a group advocating for smoke-free apartments.

For those who can't or don't want to quit, Dow Towers will have designated outside smoking areas with seating and patios.

"They wouldn't have to stand on the corner. There will be a spot for them," Unowsky said.

Unowsky expects some opposition to the ban and predicts one or two residents will move out because of it. Yet, she said, this is the direction that housing authorities are moving. The federal agency's strong encouragement for smoking prohibitions may one day become a requirement.