Apartment Complex Plans For Smoke-Free Buildings

June 23, 2009

“We’ve spent two years researching the possibility of providing smoke-free apartments and feel good about the opportunity to provide our tenants with healthier and safer living environments,” said Keith Denner, president of Professional Property Management, Inc., the management company for Sun Prairie and Vista Court Apartments. Sun Prairie and Vista Court buildings span 80 acres in West Des Moines, with half positioned in Dallas County and half in Polk.

The decision by Denner and his staff to provide smoke-free buildings resulted in part from a survey distributed to all residents in 2008. The survey asked a variety of questions about tenants’ preferences for living in smoking or non-smoking buildings. Of the 333 households that responded, 74 percent indicated a preference for living in smoke-free buildings. Of the residents who responded to be smokers, some reported they did not smoke in their units out of concern for their families.

“The health and safety of our tenants is very important to us. A smoke-free environment promotes lung, heart and circulatory health, as well as decreases exponentially the risk of fires,” Denner said.

Don Cox, fire chief for The City of West Des Moines Fire Department, said he was pleased to hear about Sun Prairie and Vista Court’s new policy. “The National Fire Protection Association statistics clearly indicate that smoking material continues to be a significant cause of fires in the United States,” Cox stated in a letter to Denner. “The fire code often limits our ability to control certain potential fire hazards, and these issues are often best managed in building and apartment leases/contracts.”

That fact, along with the Surgeon General’s recent report that children are disproportionately affected by exposure to second-hand smoke, convinced Denner that providing smoke-free living was worth consideration. More than 500 children are housed in the Sun Prairie and Vista Court properties.

The new policy will make five Vista Court and four Sun Prairie apartment buildings, a total of 265 units, smoke free. The buildings chosen had a lower concentration of smokers. “We will, of course, honor all existing leases,” Denner said. “Residents who smoke will be given the choice to abstain from smoking in their apartments or relocate to one of our other buildings.” Denner went on to explain there will be designated outdoor smoking areas for visitors and those who choose to stay.

Community activists working toward more smoke-free establishments are elated by the news, believing Sun Prairie and Vista Court will be the first of an increasing number of residential communities to provide smoke-free housing.

“[Denner and his staff] did things the right way,” said Kerry Wise, director of mission services for the American Lung Association in Iowa. “They gathered their information, looked at all sides of the issue, researched what has happened in other states and came to the conclusion that smoke-free air is nothing to be scared of.”

Wise hopes other residential properties in the state follow Sun Prairie and Vista Court’s example by also adopting smoke-free policies. “Smoke-free housing has taken off in many states across the country including Michigan, California, Minnesota, Oregon and Maine. With less than 20 percent of Iowans as smokers, our housing options should reflect this,” she said.

“There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke,” Wise said. She explained that secondhand smoke is more than a nuisance or bad smell since it can filtrate through light fixtures, walls, plumbing, and shared heating and ventilation systems. Secondhand smoke can cause or exasperate illnesses such as lung cancer, asthma, sinus and ear infections, chronic cough, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and heart disease.

Dr. Al-Shash, one of the top allergy doctors in Iowa and former president of the Polk County Medical Society, said that if his patients are renters, he will now recommend they live in smoke-free buildings. “Secondhand smoke is a major problem, even life-threatening, for patients with allergies and asthma,” Al-Shash stated. He estimated 10-15 percent of residents in the Des Moines metropolitan area have such conditions.

Al-Shash said according to the U.S. Census data, there are approximately 150,000 Des Moines metro residents living in rental properties. According to his estimates, this means 15,000 to 22,000 renters would derive a medical benefit from smoke-free apartment living.

“Based upon the trend toward non-smoking hotels and other landlords’ experiences in other states,” Denner said, “we are confident that we will experience a huge demand for smoke-free housing.”