The same momentum that has parked smoking bans in public places like restaurants and bars is now causing California landlords to declare their properties “smoke-free”.
Summary:
Two years ago, Swift Properties of Shasta County, California banned smoking in 538 apartments so that smokers and non-smokers alike wouldn’t have to live with their next door neighbor’s smoke. This policy has been part of a campaign by Shasta County, the American Lung Association, The Good News Rescue Mission and other participants to improve the health of those living in market-rate and low-income housing. The American Lung Association estimates that 5,800 rental properties have gone smokeless already. The most tenants were in favor of the change, and are happy that smoke longer travels through ducts and ventilation systems to other apartments in the complexes. Landlords are happy about the reduced cleaning bills.
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Though some might think that this ban on smoking inside apartments may have stepped outside the boundary of respecting personal rights, there are many beneficial aspects to this decision that actually preserve our privileges as Americans. When you consider the substance that is in debate—smoke from burning tobacco products—there are many well-grounded reasons why limiting use in apartments and shared housing would be a good thing.
When a building have a shared HVAC system, it is nearly impossible to keep smoke from traveling between apartments, exposing non-smokers, allergy and asthma sufferers and children to the fumes and odors. Even if there weren’t so much proven research confirming the unhealthy aspects of smoke, the smell of smoke to a non-smoker’s can be unbearable. It would be no different than smelling strong paint fumes on a daily basis as they wafted in from a neighbor’s apartment.
Besides the health effects, the smoking ban in apartments would drastically cut the cost of refurbishment. Typically, removing the smoky odors from an apartment can cost several thousand dollars. Even after extensive cleaning, usually any porous material that is still in the room will re-emit smoke fumes into the air, so the initial “clean bill of air” quickly dissipates. Sometimes it takes months for the remainder of the scent to wear off.
The addictive nature of nicotine is comparable to the level of dependence cocaine and heroine have over users. The thought of quitting for a smoker is just as difficult as giving up cocaine for a drug addict. Yet, even though the new ban on smoking in apartment buildings in parts of California is in effect and will most likely spread through out the state, all of the new smoke free buildings have special indoor smoking areas. So smoking is not banned from the buildings completely, but contained in smoking areas that have separate air ducts and ventilation systems.
The reaction to this article from smokers may be negative, as they feel it is their choice to smoke in their home, not their landlord’s. Though this is true, a non-smoker would probably not choose to have their rooms full of secondhand smoke. The way I see it, the freedom to smoke still exists, but finally non-smokers have *can* actually live without smoke.
