Boston public housing going smoke-free in 2012

“We feel this is in the best interests of our residents,’’ said the Boston Housing Authority’s spokeswoman, Lydia Agro. “When you have buildings with multiple apartments next to each other, there is no way to contain the smoke.’’

The city also launched a registry yesterday for landlords to list smoke-free units, to make it easier for renters to find them.

Agro said the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development granted its approval in July for the public housing smoking ban.

She said the authority has also been working with the Boston Public Health Commission for the past two years to offer residents smoking cessation programs, in anticipation of the smoking ban.

Agro said a poll the agency conducted last year found a smoking ban would have widespread support among public housing residents with families, the elderly, and the disabled. Of 1,300 people surveyed, roughly 90percent said they favored smoke-free housing, while 10 percent objected, Agro said.

Still, some residents, such as Lilly Berry, have mixed emotions about the plan.

Berry, a 64-year old grandmother who has lived in the West Broadway development in South Boston for decades and now has five grandchildren there, said she believes the authority should provide smoke-free housing complexes, but opposes a systemwide ban.

“Make some smoke-free housing mandatory and let people choose to live there,’’ Berry said. “But I feel that people should have the right to choose - that’s the American way.’’

Berry quit smoking 13 years ago after her father, a longtime smoker, died of lung cancer. Her older brother, also a smoker, died of the disease two years later.

Berry, a former tenant leader who was recently employed by the authority to help other tenants, suffers from a progressive respiratory disease. Other family members living in West Broadway struggle with asthma, she said.

Public health officials say secondhand smoke seeping in from neighboring apartments can exacerbate problems for asthmatics and people with heart disease and other illnesses.