BREMERTON — Housing Kitsap has officially declared all residences under their control to be smoking free.

“Really, the health benefits are the biggest driver for us,” said Holly Paterson, director of real estate management and  housing programs for Housing Kitsap. “We’ve got lots of families, lots of people that don’t want to live in (smoking housing).”

According to Paterson, the process was started late 2014, and put into motion in November 2015. Paterson said it will start going into effect June 1, though not every residence will be designated smoking free at the same time. She said that due to some lease agreements and policies at different properties, the change will be staggered.

“Some people are a little upset about it,” Paterson said, “but the majority has been pretty understanding, has been nice.”

Paterson said Housing Kitsap conducted a poll among the residents at their properties; 75 percent of the polled people said they don’t want to live in smoking housing.

“(Housing Kitsap) tried to tailor each property so that it works for everybody,” Paterson said. “There’s going to be designated areas on and around the property tailored to each property, depending on regulations and population.”

The smoke-free rule covers all smoking devices, including vapor products.

Part of the motivation for this new policy was a recommendation from the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) currently being considered.

The pending rule “would require each public housing agency (PHA) administering public housing to implement a smoke-free policy,” to be implemented no later than 18 months after the rule is approved.

Aside from restricting smoking inside all public housing, the new rule says “PHAs may, but would not be required to, further restrict smoking to outdoor dedicated smoking areas outside the restricted areas, create additional restricted ares in which smoking is prohibited … or, alternatively, make their entire grounds smoke-free.”

The proposal states that over 700,000 units would be affected by this rule, including more than 500,000 units in which elderly and/or disabled people live.

Aside from the health benefits of restricting smoking on the properties, Paterson said the apartments themselves would benefit.

“It also cuts down a lot on maintenance things that have to happen at the properties,” Paterson said. “When you turn a unit when somebody vacates … it’s a lot quicker to redo a unit if it hasn’t been smoked in.”

For more information about Housing Kitsap, visit housingkitsap.org. To view the HUD proposal, visit portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=smoke-freepubli chousing.pdf.