HUD's Smoke-Free Public Housing Rule: What 24 CFR 965.653 Requires

Federal regulation 24 CFR 965.653 requires every public housing agency (PHA) to adopt and implement a policy banning “prohibited tobacco products” inside all public housing living units and interior common areas, and in outdoor areas within 25 feet of public housing and administrative office buildings (24 CFR 965.653, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-24/subtitle-B/chapter-IX/part-965/subpart-G/section-965.653). The same rule allows a PHA to set up a separate outdoor smoking area, but only if that area is located outside those restricted zones.

This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.

Key points

• The rule requires a written policy that bans prohibited tobacco products in every living unit, not just common areas.
• It also covers interior common areas: hallways, rental and administrative offices, community centers, day care centers, laundry centers, and similar structures.
• It extends outdoors to any area within 25 feet of a public housing building or an administrative office building.
• Units, interior common areas, and the 25-foot outdoor zone are collectively defined by the rule as “restricted areas.”
• A PHA may still designate a smoking area on the grounds, as an accommodation for residents who smoke, as long as it sits outside the restricted areas.

What counts as a restricted area

Under the rule, a PHA “must design and implement a policy prohibiting the use of prohibited tobacco products in all public housing living units and interior areas (including but not limited to hallways, rental and administrative offices, community centers, day care centers, laundry centers, and similar structures), as well as in outdoor areas within 25 feet from public housing and administrative office buildings (collectively, ‘restricted areas’)” (24 CFR 965.653, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-24/subtitle-B/chapter-IX/part-965/subpart-G/section-965.653).

In plain terms, the ban reaches three kinds of space:

1. Every living unit itself.
2. Interior common areas of the property, with hallways, offices, community centers, day care centers, and laundry centers given as examples — not an exhaustive list.
3. Outdoor space within a fixed 25-foot radius of public housing buildings and administrative office buildings.

Designated smoking areas

The rule does not ban smoking everywhere on a property. It explicitly gives PHAs room to accommodate residents who smoke: “PHAs may limit smoking to designated smoking areas on the grounds of the public housing or administrative office buildings in order to accommodate residents who smoke. These areas must be outside of any restricted areas” (24 CFR 965.653, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-24/subtitle-B/chapter-IX/part-965/subpart-G/section-965.653).

That means a PHA can choose to mark off a smoking spot on its grounds, but that spot has to fall outside the living units, the interior common areas, and the 25-foot buffer around buildings described above. The rule sets the outer boundary of where smoking cannot happen; where a PHA places any designated area within the remaining space is a decision the rule leaves to the PHA.

This article reports only the locations and designated-area language quoted in 24 CFR 965.653. It does not determine how a particular PHA applies its policy or whether a particular product or property is covered.

Source links

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-24/subtitle-B/chapter-IX/part-965/subpart-G/section-965.653