'Our block has many children': Punggol resident complains after neighbours smoke in own home

Research has shown that exposure to secondhand smoke can harm your health.

That is why Stomp contributor Jackson wants his neighbours to stop smoking in the service yard of their flat at Punggol Waterway Cascadia.

He shared a video showing a man and a woman smoking cigarettes and chatting in an open service yard taken last Saturday (June 4).

Jackson said: "I have already informed them about their actions but to no avail."

He told Stomp: "Our service yard is quite enclosed as it faces the inside of the building, thus not much ventilation in the area, making the smell of secondhand smoke strong. And our block has many children living here."

But the smokers are not breaking the law as you are allowed to smoke inside your home.

In 2020, HDB acknowledged that "there has been vocal public concern over smoking within homes, with many calling for a ban on smoking at windows and balconies".

But the housing board explained why banning smoking at windows and balconies is "not necessarily the silver bullet solution".

A ban on smoking at windows and balconies would be highly intrusive and ignores smokers’ right to do what they want within the privacy of their homes.

It would be immensely difficult to enforce, thereby limiting its effectiveness as smoking is a transient activity, making it difficult to catch smokers in the act.

It is resource-intensive to conduct manual stakeout and highly intrusive to deploy cameras to monitor a smoker’s home. A smoker can simply move to another window or location to smoke, once he/she is aware of the presence of such cameras. It would not be possible to install cameras to cover each and every opening.

The issue was most recently brought up in Parliament in February by Nee Soon GRC MP Louis Ng.

This article was first published in Stomp. Permission required for reproduction.