Local families are going to be impacted by a decision announced by the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation. They're banning smoking and vaping inside the rental units, including tobacco, cannabis and e-cigarette liquid.

"What we're trying to do is protect the other tenants to make sure that they're not inhaling anything that they don't want other than the fresh air that the building is providing," explained Minister Responsible for Saskatchewan Housing Corporation Paul Merriman. "Any of those types of contaminants, we don't want them floating around the building."

Officials say it will be up to the local housing authorities to work with tenants to implement the no-smoking policy by August 1st and that will include a smoking area for multi-family units since stepping out onto the deck will not cut it since the smell and contaminants could enter other units that are nearby.

"They would want to work with their building managers and the Housing Authority to have a smoking area outside of the building."

The new policy has been reviewed for some time according to Merriman but was also impacted by a ruling out of Regina where a tenant took their landlord to court overexposure to second-hand smoke from another tenant.

Saskatchewan is just the second jurisdiction to make such a move with Yukon being the first.