By Marcella A. Maguire, Ph.D., Dawn A. Randolph, MPA, and Lea Simms
By July 30, 2018 approximately 1.2 million public housing units will have gone smoke-free, creating safer and healthier living conditions for individuals with behavioral health conditions across the country!
In November 2016, the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that public housing developments in the U.S. had 18 months to provide a smoke-free environment for their residents. Implementation of this rule presents a unique opportunity for behavioral health and other health care service providers to support public housing agencies (PHAs), housing owners, and housing agents to assist tenants who want to quit smoking.
The Role your Organization Can Play in Supporting this Transition
Your organization, whether a Community Behavioral Health Organization, an FQHC, or a nonprofit serving people with behavioral health conditions, can offer much needed support to PHAs.
- Has your organization implemented a smoke-free policy? Share your experience and lessons learned with your local PHA!
- Does your organization have peer specialists or other staff members certified in tobacco cessation? Your local PHA may be looking for tobacco cessation resources and referral services to support their residents in quitting smoking!
- Does your organization have signage, toolkits, informational flyers/brochures or other smoking cessation materials? No need for your local PHA to reinvent the wheel, share your materials!
You can also learn more innovative ways to partner with PHAs by viewing the webinar Partnering with Public Housing to Reduce Tobacco Use where you will learn about three models of collaboration, as well as resources to fund this work. For quick facts, download our infographic Going Smoke-Free In Public Housing: How Behavioral Health Providers Can Help.
Information and Resources to get Started:
- U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development Resources:
- Access HUD’s Smoke-Free Multifamily Housing Resource Bank to download toolkits, factsheets, policies, and more.
- Questions on the HUD ruling can be sent to: smokefreepublichousing@hud.gov
- View resources specific to PHAs at the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, National Center for Health and Public Housing and the Corporation for Supportive Housing websites. Access various templates, reports, tools, and newsletters for helpful information to assist PHAs to go smoke-free.
- View the CDC’s Tips for Organizations Serving Public Housing Residents which has a number of resources, including free posters and a cessation flyer promoting free resources to download and print (available in English and Spanish).
- Share tobacco cessation and tobacco-free policy resources with your community or your local PHA. The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center and Behavioral Health and Wellness Program have rich resource banks with online trainings, fact sheets, toolkits and more.
Still not sure where to start? Reach out to the National Behavioral Health Network for Tobacco & Cancer Control at bhthechange@thenationalcouncil.org and they can connect you with other behavioral health providers who have successfully partnered with PHAs to help support smoke free housing.