Four Corners Partnership Conducting Survey on Availability of Smoke-Free Housing

The Four Corners Partnership is conducting a local survey about housing as part of the Partnership’s new effort to organize a Coalition for Smoke-Free Housing.  The coalition is made up of volunteers, such as property managers, owners and residents of rental buildings, along with other concerned citizens, who want to increase the availability of smoke-free housing.

“Everyone is welcome to participate in our Smoke-Free Homes Survey,” said Bonnie Story, Smoke-Free Housing Coordinator for the Four Corners Partnership in Rice County.  “It’s a way for us to gather information, and also start to raise awareness that there is still work to be done to make smoke-free housing available to everyone.”  The link to the survey is https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/smokefreehomes

Four out of five U.S. adults report having voluntary smoke-free rules in their homes according to a study recently published in the journal “Preventing Chronic Disease,” a publication of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The National Adult Tobacco Survey respondents were classified as having smoke-free rules if they never allow smoking inside their homes.  Despite the high prevalence of voluntary smoke-free rules in homes, the study found that almost 11 million non-smoking adults continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke in their home.

According to the national study, 85.4 percent of Minnesotans have a smoke-free rule for their homes.  This is a very similar result to the most recent Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey in 2010, which found that 87.2 percent of all Minnesotans had implemented voluntary smoke-free rules for their homes.

It can be much harder for people who live in multi-unit rental housing, such as apartment buildings or townhomes, to have an effective smoke-free rule for their homes.  “Secondhand smoke knows no boundaries,” Story said.  “The many people in our communities who live in multi-unit buildings that permit smoking often find it impossible to keep secondhand smoke out of their homes.”

Multi-unit buildings are not designed or constructed so that each living unit is sealed air tight.  There are many holes, cracks and gaps that allow smoke to infiltrate from one living unit to another.  Many of these are hard to find and difficult or impossible to seal.

Exposure to secondhand smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer in adult non-smokers.  In children, secondhand smoke exposure causes more severe and frequent asthma attacks, acute respiratory infections and ear infections. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are also more likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Secondhand smoke exposure is responsible for an estimated 50,000 deaths each year in the United States. The Surgeon General has concluded there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, and that only 100 percent smoke-free policies can protect non-smokers from the dangers of secondhand smoke. Opening a window does not work, nor does any other ventilation system.

The Four Corners Partnership is a project of the public health departments in Dodge, Goodhue, Rice and Steele counties to reduce the harm tobacco causes.  This includes working with landlords and tenants to increase smoke-free housing.  Learn more at: www.4cornerspartnership.org