I live in a Section 8 affordable living apartment building in Fullerton, California. I am disabled and live alone with my beloved companion chihuahua. We have been living here since 2018. My life here has been miserable.
They allow smoking in my building. I live sandwiched between two heavy smokers. My walls and furnishings are yellow from the nicotine. It is so bad that I have yellow nicotine running down my bathroom walls. Everything in my house is ruined. The entire building is covered in sticky nicotine which they try to cover up with cheap paint jobs. My health has severely deteriated since living here. I have difficulty breathing. I use an inhaler more than I should and recently have been prescribed a nebulizer for breathing treatments. My dog weighs five pounds and her little lungs are feeling the effects also I'm sure. She stays buried under her blankets 24/7. She sneezes and has bloodshot eyes all the time.
I also have the same problems. I am constantly getting sinus infections. My fresh air is also limited because my chain smoking neighbor blows a fan out his window (due to his excessive smoking) and it blows right in my balcony doors! Even the belongings on my patio reek of smoke. The management company has done absolutely nothing about it.
I would love to move but Section 8 rentals in Orange County are hard to find. I have limited financial resources and do not have the money to move right now. I would need to hire a moving company to move me due to my physical limitations. It also causes me tremendous amounts of stress everyday. I have anger issues and depression from it. Which I am also on medication for. My place is a very small studio apartment. It is an efficiency. Not even a full kitchen or bath. It is like a small hotel room. It is claustrophobic!
Something needs to change here! I just wanted to make people aware of how smoking has ruined my mental and physical well being. If there are law makers or anyone with the power to change things reading this please help!! It is not fair to the humans or animals. They also deserve to breath clean air. Secondhand smoke should not be forced on someone. It is deadly. It ruins belongings and lives!! Please help support the fight to ban smoking in apartment buildings!!
The picture is just an example of the nicotine running down the wall.
