NEWS RELEASE
TO: Eastern U.P. Media Network
FROM: Julie K.O. Trotter, Tobacco-Free Projects Coordinator
Chippewa County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition Coordinator
SUBJECT: Harwood Properties, Inc. Offers Smoke-free Apartment Options
CONTACT: Julie K.O. Trotter, 635-3636
DATE: December 6, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The number of smoke-free housing options continues to rise in Chippewa County.
The Chippewa County Substance Abuse Coalition recently recognized the owner of Harwood Properties, Inc., Deb Harwood, and manager Alicia Cottle, for implementing a smoke-free policy in three of their apartment buildings. Harwood is the first private owner of a larger apartment complex in the Sault Ste. Marie area to provide smoke-free apartment options for tenants. The policy went into effect for two of six Woodfield Terrace Apartment buildings on December1st. The Bingham Avenue Apartments will be smoke-free effective January 1, 2008.
The smoke-free policy requires that the apartments be a non-smoking environment in addition to the common areas and hallways that are already regulated by the Chippewa County Clean Indoor Air Regulation. Sidewalks, patios and any area within 25 feet of the building are also designated as smoke-free. Harwood chose to grandfather in three tenants that currently smoke.
“We are making an effort to provide smoke-free apartment options to people that are looking for housing in our area,” said Harwood. “We have been learning about the smoke-free apartment initiative for over a year now, receiving information from the Health Department and their smoke-free air partners. We also started to receive requests for smoke-free apartments. All of this helped us make our decision to offer smoke-free apartment options.”
“A key piece of information that also helped us with our decision was the results of the tenant survey,” commented Cottle. “We thought it would be interesting to find out how many of our tenants would prefer to live-in a smoke-free building. The survey results were very supportive with 75% of the tenants that replied preferring to live in a smoke-free building and 69% indicated that they did not allow guests to smoke in their apartments.”
According to Julie Trotter of the Chippewa County Health Department/Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, the smoke-free apartment initiative began in Michigan in 2004 when the Smoke-free Environments Law Project of Ann Arbor and 10 local health departments teamed up to implement an awareness campaign to educate both tenants and landlords about the health and financial benefits of smoke-free policy for housing. The centerpiece of the campaign is thewebsitewww.mismokefreeapartment.org
According to Jim Bergman of the Smoke-free Environments Law Project, prior to 2005, smoke-free apartments in Michigan were almost impossible to find. Today, they are becoming more and more common. It is estimated that there are now active efforts in over 30 states, 3 Canadian provinces and 12 countries (including the US and Canada) to begin to make smoke-free multi-unit housing the norm. The Michigan smoke-free apartment roster on the www.mismokefreeapartment.org website has over 650 apartment buildings or homes listed with a total of over 8,000apartments units and rental properties. Plus, the RentLinx feature on the website enables users to find thousands more smoke-free apartments throughout Michigan. We are very pleased that Michigan is one of the leaders in this effort.
Until this initiative began in 2004, many landlords thought it was against the law to make their apartment buildings smoke-free and to include no smoking clauses in their rental leases. Once owners realized that it is legal to make their apartments smoke-free, many began to transition their building to a smoke-free status.
According to Julie Trotter of the Chippewa County Health Department/Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, there are also many health and financial benefits to a smoke-free policy. The 2006USSurgeon General’s Report clearly states that secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard that causes heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory illness and that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. The only way to fully protect the health of nonsmokers in indoor environments is to eliminate smoking entirely. Furthermore, landlords are clearly aware of high maintenance and replacement costs resulting from cigarette smoke in addition to the dangers of cigarette caused fires. A smoke-free policy helps reduce these costs.
Currently, the Sault Ste. Marie smoke-free apartment roster onwww.mismokefreeapartment.org lists over 20 housing options for people seeking a healthier environment to live. This listing consists of small multi unit dwellings in addition to the smoke-free public housing offered by the Sault Ste. Marie Housing Commission at Riverview Terrace, Arlington Towne Apartments, and James Terrace.
Several tenants, coalition members, and health department representatives came forward to congratulate Harwood and Cottle for their decision. Jim German, Chippewa County Board of Health Chairman stated, “I commend you for your leadership and look forward to seeing other apartment owners and managers following suit to give Chippewa County residents more housing options.”
Bharnz, a longtime tenant of Harwood Properties stated, “I appreciate Harwood Properties and their decision to provide residents a smoke-free, healthier environment in which to live.” Alice O’Neill who is also a tenant concluded, “The apartments are nice and cozy and very quiet. Making them smoke-free will only add to the comfort.”
For more information about smoke-free environments or to become involved in smoke-free air initiatives in Chippewa County, please call 635-3636 or visitwww.chippewahd.com
For tobacco cessation information and assistance, please call the Michigan Tobacco Quit Line at 1 800 480 QUIT (7848).
Photo: The Chippewa County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition recognized Deb Harwood, owner of Harwood Properties, Inc. and Alicia Cottle, manager, for their leadership in providing smoke-free apartment options in Sault Ste. Marie.
From left to right:
Front Row: Julie Trotter, Chippewa County Health Department; Rayanna Ellis, Tenant; Miechon Jordan, Tenant; Deb Harwood, Harwood Properties, Inc. Owner; Jean Pianosi and Tiger, Tenants; Earl Kay, Chippewa County Board of Health member and Chippewa County Commission Chairman ; Deana Knauf; Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan.
Back Row: Micah Jordan, Tenant; Alicia Cottle, Harwood Properties, Inc. Manager; Bharnz, Tenant; Jim German, Chippewa County Board of Health Chairman; Karen Senkus, Chippewa County Health Department; Heather Fegan, Inter-Tribal Council; and Donna Norkoli, Sault Tribe Community Health.