Smoke Free Public Housing Authorities

Exposure to smoke, whether direct or secondhand, causes adverse health outcomes such as asthma and other respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.  The 2010 Surgeon General’s Report – How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease supports this statement by explaining that low levels of smoke exposure, including exposure to secondhand smoke, lead to a rapid and sharp increase in dysfunction and inflammation of the lining of blood vessels, which are implicated in heart attacks and strokes.  Additionally, the report states that cigarette smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals and compounds.  Hundreds of these chemicals and compounds are toxic and at least 69 cause cancer.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) must be smoke free, as of July 31, 2018. Smoking may not be allowing anywhere inside of the building, or within 25 feet of any building on public housing grounds.

Click here for a list of all Public Housing Authorities in Iowa

The Iowa Department of Public Health also has resources to provide site visits and technical assistance to increase accessibility for Iowan's with disabilities in rental units.  The goal is to create a livable environment, and the surveys and recommendations are informational only. Contact Karin Ford at Karin.Ford@idph.iowa.gov or 515-242-6336 for more information 

Revised: 10/6/21