No-smoking policy

Whitefish Housing Authority Board members work hard to meet the needs of our residents in the Mountain View Manor. However, sometimes we have to make decisions that are not popular with all residents. Smoking is one such example.

I want to correct any possible misconceptions about the establishment of a new and necessary, inside-the-building, "no-smoking" policy in the Mountain View Manor.

The Manor is a 50-unit affordable housing apartment building in Whitefish. The Manor, built in 1969, is and has been governed and managed by the Whitefish Housing Authority (WHA) under HUD guidelines and support since its inception. The mission of WHA is to provide safe, decent, affordable housing for older, low income and handicapped persons.

Here are some facts:

¥ Second-hand smoke is a health hazard. After a lengthy and difficult series of efforts to be all things to all people, we could find no way to confine second-hand smoke to individual apartments.

¥ HUD funding to manage, maintain, heat, staff and repair Mountain View Manor has been steadily declining, while costs have steadily increased.

¥ Cleaning and refurbishing an apartment which has housed a smoker costs much more than refurbishing a non-smoker unit.

¥ Although non-smoking is not a HUD mandate, it is an option available to units like ours. Many HUD units across the country have had non-smoking policies in place for some time.

¥ For our current smoking residents, we did allow smoking in their apartment to continue for two years, after which it must stop.

¥ Smoking is and will continue to be allowed in designated areas outside the building.

Thus, for both health and economic reasons, the WHA established the new in–house, non-smoking policy.

I am one of the board members who did listen seriously and thoughtfully to all sides of this issue before reaching a decision. Mountain View Manor is a "jewel in Whitefish's crown."

Now the Manor will be cleaner and healthier for residents, and financing upkeep will be more manageable.

Judith Spivey, of Whitefish, is the chairwoman of the Whitefish Housing Authority Board.