In The Beginning
What You May Experience:
- Smokers start complaining.
- Resident champions offer enthusiastic support.
Recommended Actions:
- Announce smoking cessation classes or other ways to support people who want to quit.
- Follow up on all complaints and don’t ignore violations.
3 to 6 Months
What You May Experience:
- Smokers no longer complain.
- Nonsmokers’ vocal support and enthusiasm begin to wane.
- Things quiet down; there are regular violators; nonsmokers
- are quiet except when they complain about the smokers.
- Reasonable accommodation requests may be received from smokers interested in continuing to smoke in their units.
Recommended Actions:
- Continue to communicate about the policy. Celebrate small successes in newsletter stories or other communications.
- Highlight stories of residents who changed their smoking behavior or quit.
- Meet with residents who resist complying with the policy.
- Enforce the policy fairly, uniformly, and with compassion.
- Announce smoking cessation classes or other ways to support people who want to quit.
- Address every request for reasonable accommodation according to your policies. Smoking is not a protected behavior.
6 to 12 Months
What You May Experience:
- Resident complaints make enforcement feel challenging.
- Enforcement process is put to the test. Although housing providers do not like the idea of pursuing an eviction, at this point there may be a resident with multiple violations. Remember that presenting a solid eviction case depends on evidence that a fair and consistent multistep enforcement process was followed.
Recommended Actions:
- Management and staff need to talk about staying focused, and to be diligent and consistent in enforcement. Remind staff that this is a culture change that takes adaptation; there is no quick solution.
- Continue to schedule and attend resident meetings to build support for the policy. Ask residents for help with peer-to-peer encouragement.
- Announce smoking cessation classes or other ways to support people who want to quit.
1 Year Anniversary
What You May Experience:
- A subculture of healthier living led by staff and resident champions encourages compliance.
- News about issued violations gets around; residents realize the consequences are real and seek help with behavior modification if they are worried about being able to comply.
Recommended Actions:
- Host a celebration event to mark each anniversary of being a smoke-free building or property.
- Announce smoking cessation classes or other ways to support people who want to quit.
- Conduct a survey about the smoke-free policy to determine:
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- Are residents happy with the policy?
- Is the policy being followed? - For smoking residents, have they quit smoking or decreased the number of cigarettes they smoke since implementation of the policy? - For nonsmoking residents, has unwanted exposure to secondhand smoke decreased since implementation of the policy? - Have residents detected any health improvements as a result of the policy? |
- Try to calculate the cost savings from unit turnovers and consider using a percentage of the savings in a visible manner that will directly benefit residents, such as making improvements to common areas or on the grounds, based on resident suggestions.
