MULTIUNIT HOUSING

There is no safe amount of secondhand smoke exposure. The home is the main place many children and adults

breathe in secondhand smoke.'?

- About 80 million (1 in 4) people in the US live in multiunit housing, such as apartments, including about 7 million living in government-subsidized housing.**

What is government-subsidized housing? When the government helps people pay their rent. Public housing is one type of subsidized housing.

- Each year, an estimated 28 million multiunit housing residents are exposed to secondhand smoke in their home or apartment that came from somewhere else in their building like a nearby apartment.*5

- Every person living in multiunit housing deserves to breathe smokefree air.

Approximately 1in 3 multiunit housing residents are covered by smokefree building policies.®

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About 8 in 10 multiunit housing A majority of multiunit housing residents have chosen to make residents want smoke-free their own homes smokefree. building policies.5

www.cdc.gov/tobacco

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Did You Know?

Secondhand smoke can travel into an apartment from other apartments and common areas through doorways, cracks in walls, electrical lines, ventilation systems and plumbing.’

Opening windows and using fans does not completely remove secondhand smoke.’

Heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems cannot eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke. In fact, these systems can distribute secondhand smoke throughout a building. LAN

ag What is secondhand smoke? It is the combination of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette Vin

and the smoke breathed out by a smoker.

When a person smokes near you, you can be exposed to

secondhand smoke. The Surgeon General concluded: There is no safe level Cleaning the air and Secondhand smoke causes of secondhand ventilating buildings disease and early death in smoke exposure.’ cannot get rid of children and in adults who secondhand smoke: do not smoke:

In the United States:

~ e 4 a | hm r Approximately 58 million About 2 in 5 children (including 7 in The home is the main place (1 in 4) nonsmokers are 10 black children) are exposed to where children are exposed exposed to secondhand smoke.° secondhand smoke.” to secondhand smoke."

Secondhand smoke exposure among adults can cause”:

Secondhand smoke exposure among babies and children can cause’:

- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) - Lung problems

- Heart disease « Stroke

- Ear infections - Lung Cancer

|| « Asthma attacks

Smokefree rules or policies:

- Improve Air Quality » Reduce Secondhand Smoke Exposure » Reduce Smoking in Youth, - Improve Health - Receive Public Support Young Adults, and Adults

Smokefree policies in multiunit housing can improve health and save money.

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If all public housing in the United States was made smokefree, it would save $153 million each year, including

$43 million in costs and $16 million in costs

from cleaning from fires caused by

apartments where smoking.

people have smoked

Savings would be even greater if all multiunit housing across the country went smokefree.

To learn more about your state's smokefree policies, go to: www.cdc.gov/statesystem

To learn more about the health consequences of smoking and secondhand smoke exposure go to: www.cdc.gov/tobacco

REFERENCES

1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General—Executive Summary. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006.

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vital signs: disparities in nonsmokers’ exposure to secondhand smoke — United States, 1999-2012. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015;64 (04):103-108.

3. King BA, Babb SD, Tynan MA, Gerzoff RB. National and state estimates of secondhand smoke infiltration among U.S. multiunit housing residents. Nicotine Tob Res. 2013;15 (7):1316-1321.

4.U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Public Housing Agency Profiles available at: http://www.huduser.org/ DATASETS/pdrdatas.html.

5. Andrea S. Licht, Brian A. King, Mark J. Travers, Cheryl Rivard, and Andrew J. Hyland. Attitudes, Experiences, and Acceptance of Smoke-Free Policies Among US Multiunit Housing Residents. American Journal of Public Health: October 2012, Vol. 102, No. 10, pp. 1868-1871. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.300717.

6. Centers for Disease Control. Vital signs: nonsmokers’ exposure to secondhand smoke-United States, 1999-2008. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2010;59 (35):1141-1146.

7. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2014.

8. King BA, Peck RM, Babb SD. National and state cost savings associated with prohibiting smoking in subsidized and public housing in the United States. Prev Chronic Dis. 2014; 11:40222.

9. Farrelly, M. Loomis, B, et. al. Are tobacco control policies effective in reducing young adult smoking? Journal of Adolescent Health 54 (2014) 481-486