FAA Launches Smoke-Free Multifamily Housing Program and Certification, Plans Additional Presentations

The FAA Smoke-Free Multifamily Housing Program launched last week at the organization’s 2015 Annual Conference & Trade Show at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, and additional presentations have been scheduled at several local affiliates around the state.

Representatives of FAA and the Florida Department of Health's Bureau of Tobacco Free Florida will travel around the state early in 2016 to share information about the benefits of smoke-free housing and considerations for converting a community to smoke-free status, as well as FAA's Smoke-Free Certification and how communities can become smoke-free certified. 

Presentations will be offered in conjunction with these local apartment associations:

• Apartment Association of Greater Orlando (AAGO), Jan. 13 at 11 a.m., AAGO headquarters
• South East Florida Apartment Association (SEFAA), Feb. 4, time and place to be determined
• Bay Area Apartment Association (BAAA), Feb. 12, 11 a.m. Marriott Westshore
• First Coast Apartment Association (FCAA), March 10 at 7 p.m. dinner meeting, Sheraton Jacksonville

At the conference, representatives of FAA and Tobacco Free Florida provided information and resources on smoke-free housing policies to some of the 800-plus conference attendees representing approximately 200 apartment management companies and multifamily communities across the state. 

"Many renters are looking for smoke-free communities," Josh Gold, FAA executive vice president said at the conference opening session. More than 83 percent of adults in Florida do not smoke, he added, and four out of five of them want to live in a smoke-free community. In addition to meeting demand, smoke-free policies are good business, Gold said. Readying a smoke-free apartment for the next resident takes considerably less time and money than cleaning an apartment that has been smoked in.

In addition, FAA announced a certification program to recognize communities that have made the commitment to be smoke-free. "We believe that clean air is an amenity worth telling the world about," Gold said.

Communities can become certified at one of three levels: blue, silver, and gold. The levels convey whether smoking is prohibited inside apartments and indoor common areas; in all indoor spaces and within 25 feet of buildings and amenities, including on balconies; or throughout the entire community.

Communities will be required to submit an application along with a copy of their lease or rental agreement that restricts smoking by residents and guests, as well as a handbook or contract that restricts smoking by staff members. For FAA member communities that use the Florida Lease (also known as the FAA Click & Lease powered by Blue Moon Software), a no-smoking addendum is already available as part of the lease package.

Many newer apartment communities are smoke-free from the beginning. For existing communities that would like to become smoke-free, the Florida Department of Health offers assistance through Tobacco Free Florida and through regional representatives known as "grantees." Grantees in 37 Florida counties help apartment communities develop and implement smoke-free policies and connect residents to smoking cessation programs. Tobacco Free Florida is currently aware of more than 1,000 multifamily communities throughout the state that have smoke-free living options and has assisted 127 of those properties in the implementation of their smoke-free polices.

For more information, visit faahq.org/smoke_free_housing or email smokefree@faahq.org. 

Download the post-conference press release. 

Read about the program in a recent issue of NAA's Units magazine.