How?

How to Adopt and Implement a Smoke-free Policy

As a property owner or manager it is important to take steps to enjoy the benefits of making your property smoke-free. Below are some steps to adopt and implement a smoke-free policy.

But don’t take it from us. We spoke with smoke-free apartment communities in Georgia and asked them how they adopted and implemented their smoke-free policies:


Survey your residents.

Surveying your residents will help you find what proportion of residents support a smoke-free policy. In addition, it will help you find out how many residents smoke or allow smoking in their unit.

Resources:

Plan the policy and develop a timeline.

Draft your policy language and lease addendum and adopt the smoke-free policy. BreatheEasy Georgia has sample smoke-free policy language and a sample lease addendum.

Resources:

BreatheEasy Model Lease Addenda


Notify residents and post signs.

Send out a letter of notification to residents prior to policy implementation to notify them of the new policy and the date the policy will go into effect. Post signs at the entrances and prominent areas of the building and community.

Resources:

Sample of Signage (Printable signage)

BreatheEasy Branded Signage (printable)

Educate Residents and Staff

Educate your residents and staff about the importance of smoke-free policies and the impacts of secondhand smoke. Provide cessation resources if needed.

Secondhand Smoke:

Georgia Tobacco Quitline

E-cigarettes:

The Impact of E-Cigs on the Lung

CDC E-Cigarettes Infographic


Advertise your policy.

Advertise your community as smoke-free! Apply for BreatheEasy Recognition and you will get:

  • Your property added to our BreatheEasy Apartment Listing!
  • A BreatheEasy Certificate for display
  • Free window decals to advertise your policy and recognition around the property
  • Digital materials to promote your recognition:
    • BreatheEasy logo and sample language for use on your website and other materials
    • BreatheEasy-branded printable signage

Other Useful Tools

HUD created a smoke-free housing toolkit that walks you through every step of the process.

Do you work in Public Housing? Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) provides documents to help public housing agencies adopt smoke-free policies in accordance with HUDs smoke-free public housing rule.