Neighbors complain as smokers forced to gather outside Belfast housing complex

A rule that prohibits smoking at a new affordable housing complex in Belfast has created a stubborn challenge for the city.

Since Congress Square Commons opened nine months ago , that policy has forced residents to smoke cigarettes just outside the property along its Congress Street entrance, where there is little space for them to safely congregate, and neighbors have also complained about the secondhand smoke that’s reaching them.

During a Tuesday night meeting of the City Council, several neighbors openly expressed their concerns about the safety of residents standing in the street to smoke. Earlier in the day, some residents of the complex also complained about the arrangement in interviews with a reporter.

While city officials acknowledged the dilemma during the Tuesday night me