housing associations. Section 3: Engagement — The Community Activities, Actions & Programs Why? Where are we now? What needs to be done? 3A. Create and expand state and local coalitions working on smoke-free housing. Involve people in the housing industry as stakeholders. Coalitions help expand partnerships and outreach to the community. People in the housing industry can be important partners and help influence their peers. STEPP runs the Healthy Housing Coalition, which integrates smoke-free housing efforts with other healthy housing issues (radon, lead, etc.). Some local health departments (Boulder and Jeffco) have been able to integrate their housing work into the work of their coalition. Denver has had mixed results with attracting landlords to a housing landlord forum. Where we seem to have the most success in reaching housing providers is through housing associations (CHAFA, Housing Now, CONAHRO, AHMA, local apartment associations, etc.). Joining these groups and partnering with them should be accelerated. 3B. Make presentations, attend conferences, join associations, and explore other partnerships like green building efforts. Identify existing landlord training programs and seek out presentation opportunities. Join key statewide apartment/housing associations. See 1C and 3A above. 3C. Obtain testimonials from residents and property managers who have implemented smoke-free policies. Research indicates that testimonials from peers are more effective with housing providers. Some testimonials have been obtained from housing providers in Colorado and used in print and online materials. More testimonials are needed, especially in low-income MUH. 3D. Help organize resident efforts in individual apartments or May help lead to policy change in targeted MUH. An attempt to create a resident coalition in Jeffco was unsuccessful due to resident schedules. Denver, Delta, Grand Junction have made presentations about smoke-free policies to resident councils of their respective public housing authorities. The focus should be on working with interested housing providers to educate residents and resident councils on the benefit of policies and cessation options. Section 4: Endorsement Activities, Actions & Programs Why? Where are we now? What needs to be done? 4A. Obtain the support, buy-in, and endorsement of people in the housing industry for materials developed. People in the housing industry are much more likely to trust information that comes from the industry itself. Colorado NAHRO and the Apartment Association of Colorado endorsed the Colorado Landlord Guide. Attempt to increase endorsements on materials and web sites. Section 5: Evaluation
Activities, Actions & Programs Why? Where are we now? What needs to be done? 5A. Assess attitudes toward smoke-free policies among landlords, residents, and people in the housing industry using surveys, focus groups, and personal meetings. Statewide and local statistics often have a greater impact than statistics. A number of surveys of MUH residents have been done locally and statewide. A study of smoke-free policy acceptance before and after of public housing residents is underway as well as assessing the economic impact. 5B. Compile a list of smoke-free multiunit dwellings. Serves to prove that it is legal to adopt these policies and may spur policies. See 1D 5C. Collect Web statistics, number of people referred or assisted, media reach, materials distributed, etc. Provides baseline data to evaluate progress. These are standard assessment tools. Web statistics have been collected and the distribution of some smoke-free housing materials has been tracked. 5D. Evaluate the effectiveness of the materials used and disseminated to target audiences by using follow up interviews and evaluation forms. Programs dealing with smoke-free housing are relatively new and further evaluation is needed to assess what is most effective. Section 6: Enforcement Activities, Actions & Programs Why? Where are we now? What needs to be done? 6A. Provide information on how to implement and enforce smoke-free housing policies. Good implementation and enforcement policies lead to less problems and confrontations. Available through mysmokerfreehousing.org, the Colorado Landlord Guide, and other smoke-free housing web sites. 6B. Provide cessation assistance to interested parties. Section 7: Explore Policy Options Activities, Actions & Programs Why? Where are we now? What needs to be done? 7A. Work on voluntary approaches with authorities, property management companies, and landlords. Policy change will occur at a faster pace by focusing on the people who can affect the policy change. More than 3,000 MUH have or smoke-free (entire property) rules, including 33 housing authorities. The census bureau says there are half a million MUH of two or more units in Colorado.