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No-Smoking Policies in Multi-Unit Housing
Creating healthy homes where tenants can live smoke free
 As more indoor and outdoor environments become smoke free, tenants are beginning to expect that their apartments be clear of secondhand smoke drifting between units. The result is an exciting market opportunity for landlords wishing to capitalize on the over 80% of non-smoking adults looking for a unit to rent. No-smoking policies in multi-unit housing also reduce costs associated with rehabbing apartments vacated by a tenant who smoked and reduce the risk of fire damage and death in properties.
It is legal. Apartment owners are permitted by federal and state law to adopt total smoke-free policies and many are. There is no constitutional "right to smoke." In fact, the law is on the side of tenant who has a right through rules, like the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or Fair Housing Act, to live in a smoke free building. Tenants negatively impacted by secondhand smoke actually have the right to seek legal action against landlords who don't make adequate provisions to protect them from secondhand smoke.
The Physics of Smoke. Anyone who's taken high school physics may remember that gases expand to fill a space. An apartment is not like a sealed box. There are many spaces around pipes and electrical conduits and between walls and floors or ceilings. As the gases in cigarette smoke expand, they move into these spaces and into units where tenants do not smoke. Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke trailing off the lit end of a cigarette, cigar or pipe, and the smoke that's exhaled by the smoker. The cloud of smoke isn't the only danger; some deadly gases present in secondhand smoke are invisible and can linger in the air for hours after the cigarette has been put out.
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Contact us for more information about presentations, landlord handbooks,
or other topics related to smoke free multi-unit housing:
Email laura.whittaker@alamn.org
Call 218.726.4721
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Fast Facts
- Smoke free homes are the norm, not the exception. In 2005, 78.2% of homes in NE MN reported being smoke free-an increase of over 40% in 5 years.1
- Apartment owners are permitted by federal and state law to adopt total smoke free policies. There is no constitutional "right to smoke."
- Smoking caused 25% of all fire fatalities and 34% of residential fire deaths in MN in 2005.2 Smoking also caused 50% of multi-family fire deaths occurring in MN in 2006.3
More resources and information available at: www.mnsmokefreehousing.org
References:
1 Bridge to Health Survey 2005 ¦ 2 MN Fire Marshal, "Fire in MN," 2005 ¦ 3 MN Fire Marshal, "Fire Fatalities," 2006
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