by Karen Blumenfeld, Esq.
How can multi-unit housing (MUH) property owners reduce operating expenses and create a healthier, greener environment for their tenants and employees? By implementing 100% smoke-free policies for their MUH properties. It’s the newest trend in New Jersey and across the USA for both affordable and market rate MUH.
Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy (GASP) is a New Jersey nonprofit that provides educational resources on smokefree MUH to property owners, managers, developers and residents. GASP provides technical assistance to property owners, managers and developers who want to create a smokefree policy for their buildings and outdoor property.
GASP tracks smokefree multi-unit housing in the state, which is a resource for tenants in search of smokefree MUH in New Jersey, and can drive business to the listed smokefree MUH properties. Read our tracking list at the end of this article to see who is on the list and if your properties need to be added.
We also provide help to resolve situations where secondhand smoke is migrating into private units or common areas of MUH, whether from outdoors or another private unit.
Approximately 85% of New Jersey adults are nonsmokers, so demand for smokefree housing is high. Smokefree policies can increase your property values and add a premium to rental rates, since nonsmoking tenants perceive 100% smokefree MUH as an amenity and a health necessity. Furthermore, third-hand smoke, the residue left behind by first- and secondhand smoke that smells like stale smoke, can be a deal breaker for many prospective tenants, particularly families and individuals suffering from chronic diseases made worse by exposure to these toxins.
Costs savings are a key driver to MUH going smokefree. Drastically reducing unit rehabilitation costs and time can shorten turnaround for re-renting a unit, all of which improves the bottom line. A UCLA School of Medicine study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2011 found that smoking-permitted units had average smoking-related expenses of $5,000. Similarly, a breakdown of typical unit rehab costs provided to the Northwest Tobacco-Free Partnership showed that while a nonsmoking unit might cost $560 to rehab, a smoking-permitted unit’s rehab could be expected to cost $3,515.
Smokefree MUH policies can result in less strain on ventilation systems, reducing the need for expensive repairs and labor costs, and may lower energy costs. Smoking is the #2 cause of MUH fires, so some 100% smokefree properties may be eligible for discounts on property casualty insurance. Making outdoor MUH property smokefree as well helps reduce the fire risk to plants and shrubs, lowers outdoor maintenance costs by decreasing the quantity of tobacco litter, and provides healthful environments for tenants to enjoy the outdoor premises.
Loan, grant and tax credit applications may offer points for 100% smokefree policies, as do some green building and green management programs. For example, the Enterprise Green Communities application awards nine optional points for implementation and enforcement of a no-smoking policy in all common and individual living areas and outdoors within 25 feet of all residential projects.
Check with your state’s finance mortgage agency to see if their Qualified Tax Allocation Plan, or QAP, provides financial incentives for smokefree housing policies, as do Arizona, California, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Vermont and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota. New Jersey’s QAP does not yet offer this tax credit, but we are hopeful that next year the state will consider amending its QAP to offer a smokefree housing incentive that’s a win-win for property owners’ bottom line and residents’ health.
In addition to the costs savings and financial benefits of smokefree MUH, some MUH property owners and managers are instituting 100% smokefree MUH policies in anticipation of future changes in the law intended to protect MUH residents from second- and thirdhand smoke. An April 2011 article in UNITS Magazine reported that management companies are implementing smoke-free policies “…to stay ahead of the curve, as many industry experts predict government-mandated non-smoking standards for the multifamily housing industry in the next five to 10 years.”
Since 2006, the New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act (SFAA) requires that all indoor common areas in multi-unit housing be smokefree (NJSA 26:3D-57). Smoking at outdoor areas is also prohibited if smoking in those areas results in smoke entering indoor common areas at any time (NJAC 8:6-2.3(a)). Moreover, the 2007 New Jersey Department of Health Rules authorized by the SFAA give establishments permission to set restrictions on smoking greater than those required by the SFAA (NJAC 8:6-2.1(c)).
Offering a smokefree MUH environment is an opportunity to provide a healthier living space for residents and employees, especially children, the elderly, and those with chronic diseases. Federal agencies are encouraging such policies. HUD has issued several notices in the recent years recommending that individual HUD properties institute smokefree policies. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention also supports 100% smokefree policies for public, affordable and market rate MUH. Leading the pack are some states, counties and towns across the USA that are enacting laws and policies to prevent residents and MUH workers from being exposed to second- and third-hand smoke.
Of the approximately15% of adults who smoke, 70% want to quit and find that smokefree environments help them quit. Providing smoking cessation resources to tenants who smoke can help them quit smoking, which may improve their health and aid in compliance with a smokefree MUH policy. The New Jersey State Department of Health offers a free Quitline service to help adult smokers quit 1-866-NJSTOPS. Other free smoking cessation resources are on the GASP website at www.njgasp.org/quit-tobacco.htm. Smokefree environments can also discourage children from starting to smoke.
By providing smokefree housing, property owners and managers can increase revenue, decrease costs, improve compliance with state laws and improve your residents’ quality of life and health.
Interested in your MUH going smokefree? Visit GASP’s website at www.njgasp.org and contact us at info@njgasp.org or (908) 273-9368 for more information and resources. Is your MUH building or complex not listed below? Contact GASP with your MUH information and we’ll be happy to add that to GASP’s smokefree MUH tracking list for prospective residents.
LIST OF SMOKEFREE MUH IN NEW JERSEY
Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy maintains a list of multi-unit housing complexes with smokefree policies. Public housing authorities in the following towns have smokefree MUH policies: Cliffside Park, Dover, Hackensack, Highlands, Madison, Middletown, Newton, Ocean City, Paterson, Summit and Woodbridge. Condominium complexes with smokefree policies are located in Hoboken and Maplewood. Affordable and market rate MUH property owners and managers in New Jersey that have smokefree policies for individual or multiple properties (in effect or soon to be in effect) include BTC Management, American Affordable Housing, Avalon Communities, Fields Development, PRD Management, Related Management and RPM Development. Other affordable and market rate MUH properties with smokefree policies are in Barrington, Bayonne, Bellmawr, Clementon, Ewing, Glendora, Mendham, Palmyra, Parsippany, Riverdale and West Orange.