Tobacco-Free Alaska > Multi-Unit Housing Smokefree Policies

Everyone Deserves a Smokefree Home!

Tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure are high in multiunit housing, and according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), 1 in 3 nonsmokers who live in rental housing are exposed to secondhand smoke in the U.S.

Knowing the risks of exposure to secondhand smoke, housing authorities and private owners of multi-unit housing in Alaska and across the country have been making their properties smokefree for a number of years. In 2016 HUD mandated that all their funded public housing properties be smokefree by July 2018​.

There are a number of facts about the hazards of exposure to secondhand smoke and how it occurs in multi-unit housing, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has created a wonderful information page to make it easy to understand.

Important facts to remember:

• Secondhand smoke causes disease and early death in children and in adults who do not smoke
• The home is the main place where children are exposed to secondhand smoke.

Looking for smokefree housing in Alaska? Log on to https://www.smokefreehousingak.org/ for housing availability as well as landlord and resident resources.

For immediate access, below are viewable and downloadable elements of the Alaska Smokefree Multi-Unit landlord toolkit:

Publications older than 25 months can be found on the State of Alaska Library Archives website.

Banner Photo: Loussac Place, a Cook Inlet Housing Authority smokefree property.