Smoke-Free Housing Toolkit
It is perfectly legal for you, as a landlord or apartment building owner or manager to designate your rental units as smoke-free just as it is to determine if pets are or are not allowed. Since most people prefer smoke-free rental properties, it is also an economic advantage for you to market at least some of your properties as smoke-free. In some cases, tenants are willing to pay a premium to rent a smoke-free apartment unit. You’ll also save money in maintenance costs, as you are less likely to have to repaint walls and replace carpeting that has burn holes and the imbedded odor of stale smoke.
As part of our initiative to decrease the number of people exposed to second hand smoke, we are offering to help advertise designated smoke-free rental units by reimbursing the cost of advertising up to $500.00 when the International No Smoking Logo (or the phrase “No Smoking Allowed”) is included in the ad. In addition, the Erie-Niagara Tobacco-Free Coalition will market your smoke-free rental units by linking customers to our data base of smoke-free properties.
With smoke-free housing becoming the “norm” around the nation, HUD (Housing and Urban Development) recently put out a notice supporting the implementation of smoke-free policies in their properties. HUD also put out an Eco Wise newsletter encouraging smoke-free public housing.
If you have any questions, please call the Coalition at (716)845-1615, or contact Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) at (716)854-1400.
