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Smoke-Free Rental Properties Now Possible Under New State Law 

“A no-smoking policy protects the health of all residents from secondhand smoke and also attracts tenants, minimizes maintenance costs, and reduces fire risks,” stated Sombra Chaney, Chair of the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Imperial County.

Feedback received from tenants in Imperial County shows that they prefer smoke-free housing.

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Grant Housing achieves smoke free designation 

Grant Housing Agency has achieved Smoke Free designation on a majority of their buildings.

Housing Director Debbie Barkley has worked diligently to provide this opportunity for tenants with the goal of 100 percent apartments smoke free in the future.

“Through education from Smoke Free Nebraska, they have emphasized that secondhand smoke migrates,” states Debbie. Air quality studies in apartment buildings show that anywhere from five percent to 60 percent of the air in an apartment unit moves to other units in the building. Contrary to popular belief, secondhand smoke cannot be controlled by ventilation or air cleaning.

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DENNEY: 90% Smokefree is a Contradiction in Terms.  

Jaehak Yu's article in the Daily Californian covering a "smoking analysis" on the City Council agenda is more revealing that one might think.

Two years ago an effort to protect people in multi-unit housing* from secondhand smoke was watered down to pointlessness in the name of compromise.

Representatives of the Rent Stabilization Board insisted in the Subcommittee on Multi-Unit Housing and Tobacco that tobacco industry mythology well-known to be fallacious to health professionals and researchers be the basis for policy, reducing the proposed policy to the comic level of proposing smoking sections.

Embarrassed health professionals abandoned the effort rather than make Berkeley the laughingstock of the public health community. When the smokefree housing effort was initiated recently, the Rent Stabilization Board was back in the mix. The irony is that Senator Padilla's California Senate Bill 332, which is now law, was designed to be educational for people like landlords and those on the Rent Stabilization Board who clearly don't realize that "80% smokefree" or "90% smokefree" slogans are contradictions in terms. Your air is either smokefree or it isn't; there is no safe dose of secondhand smoke.

Berkeley residents need to watch closely as this "analysis" takes shape.

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Tobacco baron's house  

Described as a pioneer in modernist architecture, Sardjono, 49, met his dream client when he was introduced to a tobacco tycoon who was also an ardent collector of contemporary Indonesian art.

Both client and architect didn't fancy building a conventional house and money was no object. Thus, began the epic journey of creating one of Indonesia's most iconic houses in Semarang, Central Java.

Spanning 305sq km, Semarang, with a population of 1.5 million people - at last official count - has been the centre of tobacco, clove and sugar production, since the Dutch colonial era. Naturally, incredible wealth has been generated through the trade of such commodities.

Among the properties held by the art collecting tobacco tycoon - who declined to be named - is a prime plot in the hilly and exclusive enclave of Semarang's Candi district.

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VIDEO: Housing Authority in Freeport going smoke free  

People living in Freeport public housing won't be able to smoke in their apartments much longer. All units will be smoke free by June 1st.

The Housing Authority of the City of Freeport (HACF) says it had people fill out surveys about the smoking ban and most agreed with the idea.

"Honestly, I've been a smoker for 25 years and I agree totally with it,"

Katrisha Shultheis lives in HACF's Parkside Apartments Complex. She feels the new smoking ban will promote better health and keep units clean.

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Smoking to be banned on Freeport Housing Authority properties  

Effective June 1, residents of properties owned by the Housing Authority of the City of Freeport will not be allowed to smoke on Housing Authority property.

Smokers will not be allowed to smoke in their apartments or building and have to smoke 15 feet or more from HACF entrances.

“HACF's board of directors unanimously approved the smoke-free policy in November to be added in the proposed modifications to the lease,” Larry Williams, executive director of HACF, said in a press release.

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Washington County Housing Authority issues smoking ban 

The Washington County Housing Authority sent a letter to residents this week stating that they must stop smoking inside of their apartments or they will be forced to leave.

The letter states that starting on March 1 residents will not be allowed to smoke in or outside of their apartments. The letter goes on to say that anyone who wants to smoke must leave the housing authority's property to do so.

Tammy McGaw said she was shocked when she received the letter at her Fredericktown Apartment on Monday.

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Freeport Housing Authority going smoke-free 

Secondhand smoke won't bother Housing Authority of the City of Freeport residents anymore. All HACF property and units are proposed to become smoke-free, effective June 1. Smokers will be required not to smoke in their apartments or the buildings and to be at least 15 feet from HACF entrances.

HACF's board of directors unanimously approved the smoke-free policy in November to be added in the proposed modifications to the Lease, HACF Executive Director Larry Williams said.

Survey responses and encouragement from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) prompted the move. HUD issued a July 2009 directive, urging housing authorities to adopt a smoke-free policy, citing a 2006 U.S. Surgeon General report. Secondhand smoke, according to the report, kills 50,000 non-smokers in the United States annually.

In 2005, there were 32 housing authorities with smoking bans in effect. It's estimated, by the end of 2011, there were 285--or 9 percent of housing authorities--with smoking bans

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Mastermind Tobacco Sues Kisumu Council Over Plot 

The Municipal Council of Kisumu has found itself in yet another land row threatening to derail the town housing and investment plan after a tobacco firm moved to court seeking orders to revoke last year's allotment of plots. Mastermind Tobacco Company filed a case at the Kisumu High Court to block development of a five acre plot along Kibos road which the council had subdivided and allotted the public.

The tobacco firm through lawyers said the allocation of the plots was in contravention of the law and a disregard of its right to own property. After hearing submissions from the two parties justice Abida Aroni ordered the council not to interfere in any way with the plot. The complainant, Mastermind Tobacco, wanted the court to order revocation of the allotment letters but the court declined saying it will be infringing on the rights of third parties who are not aware of the plot ownership.

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VIDEO: Update: Controversial Smoking Shelter Under Review 

The smoke of controversy still hasn't cleared from an outdoor shelter built with taxpayer money where smokers in a Douglas County housing community must go to light up. A few residents don't like the location and took their concerns to the Housing Authority Board. Fact Finders first reported the dispute and has this update.

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• Fairmount Apartments smoking ban first for Chattanooga  

Jesse Lawrence has smoked for more than 20 years, but she supports the Chattanooga Housing Authority's policy to make Fairmount Apartments the first nonsmoking public housing site in the city.

"If you know you're living in government property, you have to live by their rules," said Lawrence, who lives in East Lake Courts.

Lawrence, who said she's been trying to stop smoking for a year, is among the Chattanooga public housing residents who will be watching in March when the $4.6 million Fairmount Apartments opens with its nonsmoking policy.

CHA board members are scheduled to discuss the nonsmoking rule at its board meeting Tuesday.

If all goes as planned when Fairmount opens, CHA will become one of more than 285 public housing sites nationwide -- about 10 percent of the country's total -- with a ban on indoor smoking, according to the Michigan-based Smoke Free Environment Law Project

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VIDEO: Non-Smoker Raises Issues with Smoking Shelter 

People in an Omaha apartment complex are getting all fired up. They say a new smoking station violates their rights.

They first took their fight to the county board, but Friday the women went straight to the source of the problem.

It's an issue that smokers and non-smokers want extinguished. It's a difficult walk Michaelle Daverkow makes 10 times a day.

"If I have to keep walking out to this while I'm trying to get myself healed, I'm going to need a chair to be able to get there." . . .

"Smoking cigarettes is my only vice. I don't take the pain pills because they don't work and because they don't allow me to be an affective parent.

The Douglas County Housing Authority say it's trying to keep Woodgate smoke free. That is why it banned smoking indoors.

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Housing agencies, landlords go smoke free  

McCook, Nebraska -- Nine housing agencies and five multi-unit landlords have achieved smoke free designation for their buildings. Housing directors and landlords have worked diligently to provide this opportunity for tenants, according to officials

"Through education from Smoke Free Nebraska, they have emphasized that secondhand smoke migrates," said Teresa Massey, Cambridge Housing Director.

Air quality studies in apartment buildings show that anywhere from 5 to 60 percent of the air in an apartment unit moves to other units in the building. Contrary to popular belief, secondhand smoke cannot be controlled by ventilation or air cleaning.

"These directors and landlords are to be congratulated for this step to protect tenants, especially children, from the effects of secondhand smoke," said Denise Ringenberg, Health Educator at Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department.

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Ottawa Public Health honours smoke-free condo 

The first condo development in the city to prohibit smoking in its units has been honoured for its efforts in keeping smoke-free spaces for Ottawa residents.

As part of National Non-Smoking Week, Domicile Developments was awarded for its One3One Condominium project, an eight-storey tall development to be built at 131 Holland Ave.

"I want to recognize the work of public health staff and community partners to stop what has been the most difficult addiction to stop," said Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes, chairwoman of the Ottawa Board of Health. "Too many of our residents smoke ... we recognize the work that lays ahead of us, and we want to recognize our partners who are working with us."

John Doran, president of Domicile Developments, said the building will offer an incentive for people to quit.

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Pierce County launches smoke-free housing campaign 

With the new year, some people may be trying to kick a bad habit - like smoking. Pierce County health officials hope to help by launching a new campaign to promote smoke-free housing.

Pierce County has been working with landlords to develop healthier living options for tenants. The new intiative provides rental properties with no-smoking sign and guidance on how to write a lease with smoking restrictions.

"Getting rid of smoking inside units reduces clean-up to half, reduced property insurance rates and fire hazards - alot of benefits," said Frank Dibiase with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.

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