GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- The following is a message from the Genesee County Health Department:
"As 2008 comes to a close, we are delighted that hundreds of thousands of apartments all across Michigan are now totally smoke-free" stated Jim Bergman, Director of the Smoke-Free Environments Law Project (SFELP). "In 2004 when the MI Smoke-Free Apartment Initiative began, it was almost impossible to find apartments that had smoke-free or no-smoking policies. In four short years, smoke-free apartments now abound and are the clear trend." Twenty-eight public housing commissions in Michigan now have smoke-free policies for some or all of their buildings.
Smoke-free policies dramatically reduce maintenance costs, saving landlords $2,000 to $8,000 per unit. Smoke-free policies also reduce the risk of fires started by cigarettes.
According to the Michigan Adult Tobacco Survey, in 2005 over 80% of households said they had a smoke-free policy in their home. Apartment residents are saying that they don't want their smoke-free home/unit inundated with their neighbor's secondhand smoke. Many smokers feel the same way and take their smoking outside to protect their families and their furniture. For additional information contact the Genesee County Health Department at (810) 257-3612 or visit the michigan smoke free apartment website.
