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How Important Is Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing?
Fact: Telephone polling conducted in 2004 by Goodwin-Simon Strategic
Research showed that nearly 70% California apartment residents favored
requiring all apartment buildings to offer non-smoking sections.
Across the state of California, landlords and management companies are
instituting smoke-free housing policies. Some cover 100% of their property.
Some make certain sections of buildings smoke free. A smoke-free property
means higher property values, and lower fire risk, insurance, and cleanup
costs. There are obvious advantages to maintaining some or all units as
non-smoking. A unit that has been smoked in is more expensive to prepare
for the next tenant. Fire danger is diminished.
More and more tenants are requesting smoke-free multi-unit housing. If
a resident or prospective resident has a disability or chronic illness
like asthma or allergies which are made worse by exposure to tobacco smoke,
Fair Housing Laws will require a reasonable accommodation.
Smoke-free multi-unit housing is being valued as an amenity. “It’s
also just good plain business,” said Marvin Swift, owner of the
40-unit Cabernet Apartment Complex in Red Bluff. “I need to protect
my property, tenants and profits. Going smoke-free in my rentals accomplishes
all three.”
There is no known safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. The U.S.
Surgeon General has concluded that breathing even small amounts of secondhand
smoke poses a health risk to your health. Secondhand smoke is a known
Class A human carcinogen.
Additionally, there is no constitutional right to smoke, and smokers for
the most part have not been protected by Fair Housing Laws. Recently,
HUD has permitted smoke free policies in affordable housing across the
country. In fact, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) is taking a greater interest in smoke-free residential housing.
In the summer of 2009, they are expected to formally encourage Public
Housing Authorities (PHA) to implement non-smoking policies in public
housing units. For the first time, HUD’s Seven Healthy Home Principles
include smoke-free housing.
RESPECT offers technical assistance on how to regulate smoking in multi-unit
housing. Our website has information specific to private and public housing,
as well as for tenants, condo owners, landlords, and management companies.
Our goal is to encourage and provide support to apartment and condo owners
who wish to adopt smoke-free policies. The RESPECT website address is:
www.respect-ala.org
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