Local property management companies will be recognized by the Coalition for Tobacco-Free Utah (CTFU) for promoting healthy air and smoke-free apartments for their tenants. Honors will be presented at the Utah Apartment Association Fair Housing Conference and Educational Trade Show at the SouthTowne Expo Center on April 16, 2008. Bach Corporation, Concept Property Management, Cowboy Properties, and Danville Development Corporation will be recognized.

Cassandra Fairclough, CTFU member and Health Program Specialist for the Utah Department of Health, said, “It’s important to recognize individuals and organizations that go above and beyond what is required by the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act. They’re going the extra mile to better protect and preserve public health.”

Cowboy Properties implemented a smoke-free policy effective January 1, 2008 for all new residents in all of their properties but one. By the end of the year, the company will have a total of 2,019 smoke-free units that give tenants a healthy environment, free of drifting secondhand smoke.

“This new policy has helped greatly with secondhand smoke issues, as well as reducing smoke damage to units,” says Jenifer Ewoniuk, Vice President, Management Operations, Cowboy Properties. “Generally, we do hear about problems, but residents really appreciate the policy and have taken time to thank us and tell us they like it.”

Concept Property Management has also made the majority of its properties – 652 units in 49 buildings – smoke-free.

Danville Development’s Sandra Aldrich says the company is honored to be recognized, and acknowledges that more can still be done. “We are seeing the beginning of a great change,” said Aldrich. “Designating a building as smoke-free is only the first step in the long process of achieving a truly smoke-free environment, as owners, managers and residents must work together in this health effort, while still offering fair and equal housing to everyone.”

According to the Surgeon General’s 2006 report on secondhand smoke, the only way to protect everyone from the health hazards of secondhand smoke is to completely eliminate exposure. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the pre-eminent U.S. body on ventilation issues, has concluded that separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.

Smoke-free housing is becoming a trend across the U.S. Owners are finding the benefits far outweigh the costs of implementing a smoke-free policy. Smoking in apartments is associated with high maintenance costs, including cigarette burn marks, smoke-stained walls, and carpets that reek of tobacco smoke, as well as the dangers of cigarette-caused fires. Also, now that only about 9.5% of Utah adults smoke, the market for smoke-free apartments is enormous.

Properties managed by these companies and other smoke-free housing complexes in Utah can be found on the Utah Smoke-free Apartment and Condominium Statewide Directory at http://www.tobaccofreeutah.org/aptcondoguide-dir.htm

The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Utah (CTFU) is a collection of concerned citizens, businesses, non-profit organizations, agencies, and health care professionals who are working to improve the health and quality of life for all Utahns by reducing the health risks associated with tobacco use and exposure.

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