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More N.H. housing authorities consider smoking restrictions 

Restrictions on smoking are becoming more common in public housing, though outright bans remain rare.

In 2004, the Lebanon Housing Authority started requiring all new residents to sign a lease that prohibits smoking anywhere in its apartment buildings, but smokers already living in the apartments were allowed to continue. That has created some friction at Rogers House, where Betty Abbott wishes the state would ban smoking in senior residential complexes the way it panned the practice in bars and restaurants last year.

"I hate to be an old Grinch about it, but yes, I'd like to see them cut it out," she said.

Jonathan Chaffee, executive director of the Lebanon Housing Authority, said smoking has become a huge issue. Anti-smoking initiatives will be on the agenda next fall when housing authorities from New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont attend a conference in Dixville Notch, he said.

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