Governor Deval Patrick’s administration moved Thursday to stamp out smoking in public housing in Massachusetts. The Department of Housing and Community Development issued guidelines to the state’s 240 local housing authorities, urging them to develop smoke-free policies for their state-aided public housing units. Such policies would prohibit tenants from smoking in a housing authority’s buildings and apartments. Local authorities could not ban tenants who smoke, nor could they force a tenant to quit smoking in order to keep their apartment, as long as they do not smoke in any of a housing authority’s buildings or units. Smoking is allowed in...