Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS):
• Approximately 50,000 excess deaths result annually in the United States from exposure to secondhand smoke.
• Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma.
• Secondhand smoke has been designated as a known human carcinogen (cancer-causing agent).
• Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25-30 percent and lung cancer by 20-30 percent.
• The National Toxicology Program estimates that at least 250 chemicals in secondhand smoke are known to be toxic or carcinogenic (cancer causing).
• The United States Fire Administration (USFA) indicates smoking as the number one cause of home fire deaths in the United States.

Optional Smoke-Free Housing Policy Implementation Notice 10-21 Issued 9/17/2010 by HUD:
• You may choose to establish smoke-free housing policies may establish policies that allow smoking in individual units but prohibits smoking in all common areas.
• You may choose to create a totally smoke-free property.
• You need to update House Rules/Community Policies and Procedures to incorporate the
smoke-free housing requirements.
• You must comply with all applicable fair housing and civil rights requirements.

Optional Smoke-Free Housing Policy Implementation Non-smoking policies must:
• Be in accordance with state and local laws.
• Address smoking in a tenant’s unit, common areas, playground areas, areas near any exterior window or door, and areas outside a tenant’s unit.
• Designate specific smoking areas and identify these areas with clear signage unless you establish a totally smoke-free policy.
• If you establish a smoke-free building as of a certain date, the up must inform applicants after that date that the building is a totally smoke-free building
• You are not required to grandfather current tenants living at their property. Such policies must be clearly defined (e.g. whether current tenants are allowed to smoke in their units).
• You are not restricted from establishing smoke-free wings, buildings, floors, and/or units at their property.
• When a unit becomes available, regardless of where this unit is located, it must be offered to the first eligible household on the waiting list.
• You must implement any new smoking-related House Rules in accordance with HUD Handbook 4350.3 REV-1.

New admissions:
• You are required by existing HUD policies to provide the House Rules to all new tenants.

Existing tenants:
• You must notify existing tenants, who have completed their initial lease term, of the modifications to the House Rules 30 days prior to implementation. Notification is accomplished by forwarding a copy of the revised House Rules to existing tenants.
• For those tenants who have not yet completed their initial lease term, the owner must provide the tenant with 60 days notice, prior to the end of their lease term, of the change in the House Rules.

Non-smoking policies must not:
• Deny occupancy to any individual who smokes.
• Must not ask at the time of application, move-in, or recertification whether the applicant or any members of the applicant’s household smoke.
• Must not maintain smoking or nonsmoking specific waiting lists for the property.
• Cannot require existing tenants, as of the date of the implementation of the smoke-free housing policies, to move out of the property or to transfer from their unit to another unit.

Violating the Non-smoking Policy: 
• Repeated violations of the non-smoking policy may be considered material noncompliance with lease requirements and may result in termination of tenancy.
• When pursuing eviction due to material noncompliance with lease requirements, existing HUD procedures found in HUD Handbook 4350.3, REV-1