Smoke-Free Housing Strategic Plan Update 2014
Coloradans know the health benefits of smoke-free environments at work, casinos, restaurants, bars and most indoor public places. However, exposure to secondhand smoke continues to be a concern when it infiltrates into people’s residences through doors, windows, or ventilation systems, and leads to serious health consequences. Often that exposure can be just as intense, just as harmful, and more prolonged than when people were exposed to secondhand smoke during a full days work. Venting, patching, or sealing multiunit residential units is not a solution. Residents of multiunit dwellings should have the same protection from secondhand smoke afforded to the majority of Coloradans at work and in public. The best way to effectively provide residents with a safe and healthy living environment is to eliminate smoking in multiunit housing and focusing on the people who own or manage multiunit residential buildings.
Dealing with smoke-free housing issues requires a multi-pronged comprehensive approach based on the best practices that have been used in other states and the experiences of advocates in Colorado. Flexibility is important because some strategies and techniques may work better than other techniques in some communities than others and may be dependent on the extent of support and readiness for smoke-free housing.
Until community norms have changed sufficiently to the point where the community agrees and supports smoke-free housing, it is important to emphasize educational programs and activities, focus on obtaining voluntary policies, develop partnerships, and engage the community in the process.
Nationally, working on smoke-free housing has expanded greatly since 2006 with more than 350 groups and individuals participating on the national smoke-free housing listserv. As laws pass protecting people from secondhand smoke in public places and workplaces, tobacco-prevention programs are placing more emphasis on working on smoke-free housing. Studies have found that smoke-free policies in multiunit housing also has an impact in smoking cessation and reduction by residents who smoke. Smoke-free housing should be one of the priority programs on both a statewide and local level and Colorado needs to once again make smoke-free housing one of its keypriorities.
Note: This document was updated and provided to CDPHE and others in 2014 as a starting point for a discussion
of where we are and what needs to be done and represents the views of the editor (Pete Bialick).
This document is not an “official strategy” but may be useful to people working on smoke-free housing.
Section 1: Education – Target Audiences
Activities, Actions & Programs / Why? / Where are we now? / What needs to be done?1A. Develop educational materials for residents and landlords. This may include brochures, templates, fact sheets, presentations, signs, and surveys. Use key messages to help de-normalize smoking policies in multiunit housing (MUH). Provide these on-line and in print. / Education leads to policy change. / Materials have been developed and disseminated in print and online through STEPP, GASP, and local programs. Some de-normalization has occurred and the housing community is accepting and using the materials. / Continue improving and disseminating materials. Use earned and paid media to inform landlords and residents of the resources. Increase outreach.
1B. Research and analyze the legal issues under Colorado’s housing laws. / Many people in the housing industry do not think policies can be enacted, fear a loss of residents, and do not think smoke-free policies are enforceable. / The legal issues in Colorado have been analyzed but may need to be updated with the legalization on marijuana and electronic cigarettes. / See 1A.
1C. Develop presentations and provide materials (magnets, stickers, etc) for presentations, conferences, trainings, booths, etc. / Property owners or managers often need model polices and surveys, how-to tips, and other tools to implement a smoke-free policy. / Presentations have been accepted at major housing conferences (CHAFA and Housing Now in 2013). Magnets have been developed, trainings have occurred, and Denver and Jeffco will have a booth at the 2014 NAHRO conference / Continue to reach out and partner with housing associations, including becoming members, going to their meetings and trade shows.
1D. Use paid and earned media to increase awareness of Colorado’s smoke-free housing Web sites and registries. Educate the housing industry about the benefits, the legalities, the costs, etc. Use direct mail and print media, newsletters, billboards, radio, banner ads, etc. Produce professional materials, booklets, presentations, videos, improve Web sites, etc. / Media campaigns can help persuade policy change can help educate residents and landlords about the available resources. / Due to reductions in A35 funds media outreach has been limited recently. Mysmokefreehousing.org and .com were created as well as the Colorado Landlord Guide. Email blasts, direct mail, and educational materials have been used as educational tools. The “I am a smoke-free zone” campaign may be helpful. / Increase earned and paid media. Work on obtaining more earned media articles about the issue in industry publications.
1E. Write and submit articles for housing publications. / A limited number of articles have been written and submitted to housing industry publications. / See 1D.
1F. Develop consistent messages that can be used for educational campaigns, presentations, etc. Recruit people in the housing industry to peer-review materials. / Involving housing providers in the process can help gain respect and trust with housing partners. / Messaging has been developed and used in materials. Housing providers have been willing to donate their time and expertise.
Section 2: Education - Health Advocates
Activities, Actions & Programs / Why? / Where are we now? / What needs to be done?2A. Provide educational and training opportunities at conferences, through conference calls, at meetings, and provide opportunities to share concerns and experiences with colleagues. / Some public health advocates do not understand the issue, its importance, how to address it, where they can obtain technical assistance, and may need more training on some skills. / Some of these opportunities were dropped with the reduction in A35 funds since less people were working on the issue. As new people start working on the issue there will be a need for further training and sharing opportunities. / Develop, improve, and provide training opportunities including conference calls, webinars, etc. Longer half-day training may be necessary for people new to the issue.
2B. Develop materials for assisting residents who are having problems with smoke infiltration. / The majority of complaints about secondhand smoke come from residents. / Materials to assist residents have been developed. / Improve materials and provide training about the materials and train advocates on how to best utilize them.
2C. Develop materials to assist health advocates in conducting assessments of smoke-free policies in their area. Maintain and expand contact lists for the housing industry, affected residents, and multiunit housing both locally and statewide. / Assessments help track progress and may help develop partnerships. Databases help establish contacts and could be used for targeted direct mail, e-mail blasts, and other media campaigns. / GASP, Denver Public Health, and other local health departments have conducted assessments of smoke-free policies in MUH. GASP maintains a statewide list of MUH and the known smoking policies that is used to update mysmokefreehousing.com and for Denver and Denversmokefreeliving.org. GASP also maintains a statewide database of property management companies and housing associations. / Lists need to be refined to help identify low-income MUH. Assessment work should continue to determine which MUH have policies and are interested in policies in communities that have not done assessments. It will be difficult to obtain 100% response to assessment surveys, so it should be limited. The focus should be on policy-change after one or two rounds of assessment.
Section 3: Engagement — The Community
Activities, Actions & Programs / Why? / Where are we now? / What needs to be done?3A. Create and expand state and local coalitions working on smoke-free housing. Involve people in the housing industry as stakeholders. / Coalitions help expand partnerships and outreach to the community.
People in the housing industry can be important partners and help influence their peers. / STEPP runs the Healthy Housing Coalition, which integrates smoke-free housing efforts with other healthy housing issues (radon, lead, etc.).
Some local health departments (Boulder and Jeffco) have been able to integrate their smoke-free housing work into the work of their coalition. Denver has had mixed results with attracting landlords to a smoke-free housing landlord forum. / Where we seem to have the most success in reaching housing providers is through housing associations (CHAFA, Housing Now, CONAHRO, AHMA, local apartment associations, etc.). Joining these groups and partnering with them should be accelerated.
3B. Make presentations, attend conferences, join associations, and explore other partnerships like green building efforts. Identify existing landlord training programs and seek out presentation opportunities. Join key statewide apartment/housing associations. / See 1C and 3A above.
3C. Obtain testimonials from residents and property managers who have implemented smoke-free policies. / Research indicates that testimonials from peers are more effective with housing providers. / Some testimonials have been obtained from housing providers in Colorado and used in print and online materials. / More testimonials are needed, especially in low-income MUH.
3D. Help organize resident efforts in individual apartments or community-wide. / May help lead to policy change in targeted MUH. / An attempt to create a resident coalition in Jeffco was unsuccessful due to resident schedules. Denver, Delta, Grand Junction have made presentations about smoke-free policies to resident councils of their respective public housing authorities. / The focus should be on working with interested housing providers to educate residents and resident councils on the benefit of smoke-free policies and cessation options.
Section 4: Endorsement
Activities, Actions & Programs / Why? / Where are we now? / What needs to be done?4A. Obtain the support, buy-in, and endorsement of people in the housing industry for materials developed. / People in the housing industry are much more likely to trust information that comes from the industry itself. / Colorado NAHRO and the Apartment Association of Colorado endorsed the Colorado Landlord Guide. / Attempt to increase endorsements on materials and web sites.
Section 5: Evaluation
Activities, Actions & Programs / Why? / Where are we now? / What needs to be done?5A. Assess attitudes toward smoke-free policies among landlords, residents, and people in the housing industry using surveys, focus groups, and personal meetings. / Statewide and local statistics often have a greater impact than out-of-state statistics. / A number of surveys of MUH residents have been done locally and statewide. A study of smoke-free policy acceptance before and after of public housing residents is underway as well as assessing the economic impact.
5B. Compile a list of smoke-free multiunit dwellings. / Serves to prove that it is legal to adopt these policies and may spur policies. / See 1D
5C. Collect Web statistics, number of people referred or assisted, media reach, materials distributed, etc. / Provides baseline data to evaluate progress. These are standard assessment tools. / Web statistics have been collected and the distribution of some smoke-free housing materials has been tracked.
5D. Evaluate the effectiveness of the materials used and disseminated to target audiences by using follow up interviews and evaluation forms. / Programs dealing with smoke-free housing are relatively new and further evaluation is needed to assess what is most effective.
Section 6: Enforcement
Activities, Actions & Programs / Why? / Where are we now? / What needs to be done?6A. Provide information on how to implement and enforce smoke-free housing policies. / Good implementation and enforcement policies lead to less problems and confrontations. / Available through mysmokerfreehousing.org, the Colorado Landlord Guide, and other smoke-free housing web sites.
6B. Provide cessation assistance to interested parties.
Section 7: Explore Policy Options
Activities, Actions & Programs / Why? / Where are we now? / What needs to be done?7A. Work on voluntary approaches with public-housing authorities, property management companies, and landlords. / Policy change will occur at a faster pace by focusing on the people who can affect the policy change. / More than 3,000 MUH have no-smoking or smoke-free (entire property) rules, including 33 housing authorities. The census bureau says there are half a million MUH of two or more units in Colorado.
7B. Explore using tax credits or other incentives for new builders. / Tax credits are proven incentives to encourage the implementation of smoke-free policies in new housing developments. / In 2012 CHAFA adopted a one-point tax credit for MUH that implement smoke-free policies.
7C. Work with local communities to adopt policies making new construction non-smoking. / This may be a less controversial first step toward passing laws.
7D. Assess the different policy options and laws that can be used locally or statewide. / See 1B
Section 8: Explore Legal Options (New Addition)
Activities, Actions & Programs / Why? / Where are we now? / What needs to be done?8A. Assist residents using legal means. / Most residents cannot afford legal assistance and most lawyers will not provide assistance. / Some lawyers have been willing to provide free advice to residents and some residents have been able to afford hiring a lawyer. / Educating and recruiting the legal community, establishing a legal fund to help residents,
8B. Advise landlords and others of the legal rights. / There are misconceptions about the legality of having policies and fear of violating discrimination laws. / Jefferson County is launching a program to educate landlords and assist low-income residents. / This program could be expanded.
Section 9:Endowment
Activities, Actions & Programs / Why? / Where are we now? / What needs to be done?9A. Use tobacco-prevention funds to support state and local efforts. Make smoke-free housing one of the priority areas. / Helps reduce exposure to smoke in multiunit housing and can help with cessation by residents. / Smoke-free housing is one of the seven goal areas that can be funded by amendment 35. / Smoke-free housing programs need to once again become a higher priority by STEPP both locally and statewide.
9B. Explore additional options for funding smoke-free housing programs though a variety of sources including the housing industry itself, foundations, corporations, and other sources. / Tax funding for prevention activities will decline as tobacco usage declines. Diversification of funding support is healthy.
Recommendations for capturing the impact and outcomes, and evaluating smoke-free housing efforts in Colorado
Nine Key Benchmarks of Progress(not necessarily in order of priorities) / How Will They Be Measured?
An increase in the number of smoke-free multiunit residential buildings. / Database of multiunit dwellings and their smoke-free policies, Web site statistics.
Comprehensive statewide and local media public education and awareness campaigns about the importance and benefits of smoke-free housing. / Tracking the materials distributed and requested, Web site statistics, phone/web referrals, and technical assistance provided.
Skill building training for STEPP contractors and statewide partners to increase the knowledge and understanding about how to effectively advocate for smoke-free housing. / Number of trainings, conference calls, conferences, skill building workshops, educational materials, presentations, booths, and an evaluation of skills gained.
An increase in partnerships and collaborations with people in the housing industry. / Meetings, conferences attended or presented at, booths, association memberships, presentations, and collaborations (articles in newsletters, reviewing materials, focus groups). Assistance provided in adopting smoke-free policies.
An initial increase in the number of resident/owner referrals and collaborations, followed by a significant drop in complaints as the number of smoke-free policies increase. / The number of unique referrals, interaction with residents and management, success in resolving problems, drop in complaints.
An increase in the number of organizations addressing smoke-free housing. Further development of smoke-free housing partnerships. / An increase in the number of STEPP contractors that are actively working on smoke-free housing in their work plans. Presentations, booths, or cooperative ventures with the housing industry, smoke-free housing summit/meeting of all partners. An increase in the number of other organizations working on smoke-free housing.
Increased funding for smoke-free housing initiatives though a variety of sources including the housing industry itself, foundations, corporations, and other sources. / The funding provided by outside sources, amount of funding, in-kind funding, and cooperative ventures.
Attitude shifts indicating an increased support for smoke-free housing. / Conducting and publicizing resident and landlord surveys before and after smoke-free policies are implemented.
Increase in voluntary and legislated policies that encourage or require smoke-free housing. / List of multiunit dwellings and their smoke-free policies tabulated annually. List of local communities that have enacted voluntary or legislated policies that address smoke-free housing.
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