Edward Mauk, Butler County Housing and Redevelopment Authority CEO, stands in front of the Terrace Apartments in Butler.

Nonsmokers living in public housing properties in Butler County will start the new year breathing cleaner air while smokers will be bundled up outside.

On Jan. 1, the Butler County Housing and Redevelopment Authority will begin enforcing a rule handed down from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development banning smoking in public housing properties.

The ban will be in effect at 479 of the authority's 681 public housing units. Smoking will not be allowed in apartments, hallways, building entrances, laundry rooms and any common area. Smoking will be permitted outdoors 25 feet away from the properties.

The smoking ban will be in place at the Terrace, Cliffside, Shore Street, Wick Street and Diamond Street apartments in Butler, Maple Court Apartments in Zelienople, Graystone Manor in Slippery Rock, Parker Heights in Parker, Presidents Square in Evans City and scattered family communities in Butler.

<div class="youtube"><iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7UlWkrGooSc?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

Attached balconies and porches will also be smoke free.HUD is not requiring public housing authorities to build outdoor shelters for smoking.Not included in the local ban are the Lafayette and Franklin Court apartments in Butler, Rolling Road Regency Apartments in Cranberry Township, Chicora Commons in Chicora and privately owned Section 8 properties scattered around the county.Residents have probably complained to HUD about smoking, but Edward Mauk, authority chief executive officer, said he hasn't received any local complaints.“We didn't enact this because of complaints we had from any of our residents. We changed this because of HUD regulations,” Mauk said. “It's got to be implemented. This is a HUD mandate.”The rule does not apply to electronic cigarettes or hookah pipes, according to HUD. The ban only covers tobacco products that involve igniting tobacco leaves like cigarettes, pipes and cigars.Some residents were happy and some weren't when Mauk said staff visited the affected properties to tell them about the ban recently.“Those who smoke will have some inconveniences. Nonsmokers are happy the hallways and common area won't smell like smoke,” Mauk said.Tenants had to sign lease addendums that contain the ban rules, he said.Enforcing the ban will be difficult, but tenants can be evicted for repeat violations, he said.“We have to enforce it. It's not going to be easy. We would enforce it like any other lease violation through the lease violation process leading up to eviction,” Mauk said.One or two public housing tenants might have moved out because of the ban, but “no mass exodus” has occurred, he said.About 20 residents signed up for smoking cessation classes the authority is providing through Keystone Wellness Programs of Evans City, and some are trying to quit smoking on their own, said Martha Brown, authority grant management and resident services director.“It was posted. There hasn't been a real high attendance,” Brown said, about the classes. “We've been telling resident councils about this for a while. I think a lot of people are doing it on their own.”Residents at Terrace Apartments on South Cliff Street have mixed opinions on the new rule.Darlene Lang, who has lived in the Terrace for about a year and a half, said the rule isn't fair to smokers like her.“I think the federal government is trying to take all of our freedoms,” Lang said.She said she has been attending the weekly smoking cessation class in the building, but is finding that trying to quit smoking is difficult.“I'm trying to quit. My nerves are about shattered,” Lang said.Steve Fennell, another smoker, said the ban isn't fair and building residents should be allowed to smoke on the outdoor patio.Carol Johnson said she quit smoking way back when cigarettes cost $1.50 a pack and supports the ban, but tenants should be allowed to smoke on the porch.“I can see them not wanting people to smoke inside the building. It's a safety issue. They should be allowed to smoke on the porch outside,” Johnson said.Tenants smoke on the porch now and they keep the area clean, she said.It isn't safe for the handicapped tenants who use wheelchairs and smoke to cross the street to smoke, Johnson said.Nancy Rice, a 71-year-old tenant who doesn't smoke, said she likes the no smoking rule.“I think it's a great idea. I have asthma and OPCD. I never smoked. I got it from second-hand smoke,” Rice said.She said she can smell smoke from neighboring apartments in her apartment.The building tenants are senior citizens and many have the same breathing problems she has, Rice said.She also understands that it can be difficult to quit.“This is what you have to do. You just have to learn to do things differently. I guess not everybody is as strong willed as I am,” Rice said.Ralph Stewart said tenants like him should be allowed to smoke in their rooms, but he will smoke outside to avoid possible eviction for breaking the rule.“We pay rent. As long as we smoke in our apartments it's not bothering anybody. It's our homes and we should be able to do what we want as long as it's reasonable,” Stewart said.All of the tenants said officials from the authority told them in a meeting last year that the smoking ban was coming. They said written notices were placed in their door and they recently had to sign the lease addendums.Authority employees told them that those three notices were all the warnings they are going to receive and residents caught smoking after Jan. 1 will be evicted, they said.The ban is expected to save money.The smoke-free policy will save housing authorities $16 million to $38 million a year in maintenance costs, according to HUD.“We do feel it saves us money,” Mauk said. “When units turn over, we have more work if the prior tenant was a smoker because of the odor of the cigarettes.”He said a smoker's apartment has to be painted and get new carpeting before a new tenant moves in.“Even second-hand smoke gets kicked around through the buildings,” Mauk said.HUD said research proves tobacco smoke travels from smokers' units into non-smokers' units, hallways, lobbies and other common areas.Banning smoking will save HUD $38 million by reducing the risk of fires, the department said.Mauk said there hasn't been any fires caused by smoking during his two and a half years at the authority.Citing a 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, HUD said the ban would save $497 million a year in health care and housing-related costs.Of the 2 million people living in 1.2 million public housing units in the country, more than 760,000, or 38 percent, are children under 18 and more than 329,000, or 16 percent, are over 62, according to HUD.