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What to Expect in the First Year of Smoke-Free Housing

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: ​
- 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.
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This page was adapted from the Vermont Department of Health's "Secondhand Smoke-Free Housing Toolkit" 
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