THUNDER BAY – Social housing properties will now be smoke-free and residents will be limited the number of pets they can own.
Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board chief administrative officer Bill Bradica said the changes have been approved with the new policies going in effect on Sept. 1.
He said non-profit housing in some other municipalities have already gone smoke-free.
Current tenants are being exempted from the non-smoking policy within their own units, though they can’t light up in common areas of the buildings.
“We do get complaints from tenants and we found through our tenant satisfaction survey approximately 64 per cent of residents do not smoke in their units,” he said.
The DSSAB is also implementing a policy of no more than two pets per household.
“We’ve had some issues over the past years with many complaints from tenants but other tenants having a number of pets in their units and pets running through common areas and laundry rooms,” Bradica said.
“Given the close quarters that people are often living in, especially in an apartment situation, we felt it appropriate to limit the number of pets.”
Current tenants with more than two pets will be allowed to keep them, but will not be permitted to add any new animals.
