Community Organizations and Smoke-Free Multi-Housing

11/12/07 Press Release:

Apartment Building Goes Smoke Free In Honor of Great American Smoke Out
Twin Cities landlords cite cost savings as reason to go smoke free

The Talheim Apartments building in Chaska, MN, will implement a smoke-free policy for its entire building, including all rental units, on Saturday, November 17, in honor of the Great American Smoke Out.   Sheila Knox, building manager, chose to put the smoke-free policy into effect during the Great American Smoke Out as a way to end the secondhand smoke exposure in the building.  “The Great American Smoke Out is a day when a lot of people quit smoking.  So we’re taking advantage of the event and implementing our smoke-free policy at the same time,” said Knox.  “We’ve been preparing to go smoke free since May, and we can’t wait!”.... Story Continued (opens as pdf in new window)

Specific information for community organizations (such as housing organizations, public health organizations, and legal organizations) will be coming soon.

Many people are interested in smoke-free multi-housing. If you work for a community/health organization, housing organization, legal organization, or other organization, we hope you will find the information for landlords and tenants useful. You can also read our fact sheet on why smoke-free multi-housing policies are good the community.

If you have further questions or are interested in learning how your organization can work with Live Smoke Free to promote smoke-free multi-housing, please contact us.

For Owner-Occupied Residents and Associations

If you live in a condominium, town home, co-op, common interest community, or other sort of owner-occupied unit, you may find much of our information useful. Information on secondhand smoke, research on smoke drift, and the benefits of smoke-free policies are similar for renters and unit-owners.

However, be aware that many legal issues and remedies are different for owner-occupied units and the legal information presented on this web site is for tenants in rented units. Live Smoke Free does not currently offer any fact sheets or information specifically for legal issues surrounding owner-occupied units. The Tobacco Control Legal Consortium has wrriten Legal Options for Condominium Owners Exposed to Secondhand Smoke (opens as a pdf in new window).

Residents and association members of owner-occupied units can contact Live Smoke Free to learn some strategies to creating a smoke-free building. Live Smoke Free also has information on possible new research in the area of smoke-free owner-occupied housing.