About Live Smoke Free

Live Smoke Free is a program of the Association for Nonsmokers-Minnesota (ANSR) which addresses the discrepancy between the number of smoke-free apartment units available and the percentage of renters that would prefer to live in them. Whereas only a very small percentage of renters (around 2%) enjoy a smoke-free environment, nearly half of those renting apartments in Minnesota would prefer to live in smoke-free units.⁽¹⁾ Live Smoke Free's goals are to

• Educate owners, funding agencies, and policy makers about the extent of the secondhand smoke problem in apartment buildings, the size of the market for smoke-free buildings, and the advantages of providing them.
• Provide owners with materials, resources, and information for implementing a smoke-free policy, advice on avoiding pitfalls, and a model lease addendum developed by a team of attorneys.  Live Smoke Free will follow up with assistance in dealing with problems or special situations, conducting telephone consultations as needed.
• Encourage apartment listing services and rental agents to specify the smoking policy in buildings with vacant units.
• Educate and assist renters, especially new renters, who have problems with secondhand smoke in their unit.

Live Smoke Free has information for owners and managers of apartment buildings; new renters, and current renters having problems with secondhand smoke in their apartment; and for policy makers and community organizations.

Live Smoke Free is focused on the Twin Cities metro area with grant funding from the Minnesota Department of Health.

Public Health Law Center is a partner with Live Smoke Free, providing legal technical assistance to the program. The Public Health Law Center is a legal resource center at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota and offers scholarly research on legal and policy problems, assistance with legislative drafting and policy development, and individualized legal research, analysis and interpretation. More information on the Center is available at www.publichealthlawcenter.org, or by calling (651) 290-7506.