A poll of residents of Harbor View Apartments in Grand Marais showed that a majority of people living there prefers a non-smoking environment. The apartment building became smoke-free on January 1, 2010. Some residents gathered for a celebration in the community room. (L-R) Susan Hennes, Wilma Liebsch, Jeff Fenwick, Building Manager Joe Kelahan, Robert Haring, Alice Brisson, Catherine Borka, Betty Wilson.
As of January 1, 2010, Harbor View Apartments in Grand Marais is a smoke-free building. According to Laura Whittaker of the American Lung Association in MN, the policy was adopted “to improve the health and safety of all residents.” Thenew policy means that no one will be allowed to smoke inside the building. Smoking will be allowed outside the building in the designated smoking area. According to Whittaker, a survey was recently completed in which 65 percent of Harbor View Apartments residents stated that they could smell secondhand smoke coming into their apartment from a neighboring apartment. Harbor View Apartments Manager Joe Kelahan said the majority of tenants responded to the survey. And all who turned in a survey expressed a preference for a smoke-free building.
Kelahan acknowledged that not everyone was happy about the change. He said when he and his wife took over management of Harbor View four years ago there were nine smokers. There are now only three apartments occupied by people who smoke. “There was some resistance,” he said, “and I sympathize with those people. I was a smoker and I know how hard it is to quit.”
Photos courtesy of American Lung Association MN
However, Kelahan is pleased with the new policy, noting that it will decrease the risk of fire in the 30-rental unit building. But most important is that tenants who want to live in a clean and healthy environment free from cigarette smoke are now able to do so.
“I am looking forward to turning around vacant units without having to deal with smoke damage,” said Kelahan. “We have had to turn away potential residents because they didn’t want to live in a building with smoking. Now we can provide healthy, smoke-free living for everyone.”
Residents who do smoke may still do so, but they must be 35 feet away from the building entrances. Kelahan said in the spring an enclosed area will be constructed as a smoking area. Harbor View Apartments joins several other Grand Marais multi-unit buildings that are already smoke-free. Sawtooth Ridges has been smoke-free since 1994, and both Grand Marais Apartments and Homestead Cooperative became smokefree within the last five years.
For help to quit smoking, call 1-800-LUNG-USA or visit www.QuitPlan.com.
According to Whittaker, a recent scientific survey conducted by the American Lung Association in Minnesota of over 600 renters in Carlton, Lake and St. Louis counties showed that smoke-free homes are already the norm. Seventy-two percent of the 600 renters surveyed described their individual unit as “smokefree.” Thesurvey also showed that the demand for smoke-free rental housing is high; 78 percent of respondents said all things being equal that they would choose a smoke-free apartment building over a building that allows smoking. Even during these tough economic times, nearly 30 percent of respondents said they would even pay more rent to live in a smoke-free building.
The American Lung Associations’ smokefree housing program works together with landlords, tenants, and the community to increase the number of voluntary smoke-free apartments in NE MN so tenants can live in a healthy, smoke-free environment. Learn more at www.alamn. org/smokefreehousing.
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