Why the Voluntary Approach Works in Maine

The Smoke-Free Housing Coalition of Maine is group comprised of over 50 public health advocates, tenants, landlords, property managers, environmental health professionals and many others.

Our Mission To reduce the number of multi-unit housing residents who are involuntarily exposed to secondhand smoke. Our Vision A State where all citizens can live free from exposure to secondhand smoke.

A coalition based model We have the time, expertise and funding to… –Develop relationships –Educate landlords and the general public –Develop materials –Offer technical assistance But NOT to develop ordinances in each town in Maine or at the state-level

Consider your political climate Historically, Libertarian ideologies define the citizen opinion in Maine. Strong and progressive State laws but we draw the line when it comes to people’s homes. Maine people are in favor of smoking bans when the primary goal is to protect children.

Cost vs. benefit analysis Time spent on organizing and policy making vs. time spent convincing folks of voluntary policy. Portland example. The financial and health benefits are an ‘easy’ sell- mandatory legislation is not.

Why not just educate? Many times legislative campaigns and policies are used to educate the public. We have found that developing key relationships with rental housing associations, housing authorities, etc. produces the same result.

Its all about relationship building People like us because we save them money –We are offering them something to increase their investment, rather than mandating their behavior. We get invited to speak or display at more conferences then we can currently accept. Our friends have opened new doors for us such as developing Green Building Standards language.

The Enforcement Issue Hypothesis: landlords who voluntarily implement policies enforce more uniformly and consistently then when the policy has been legislated. Antidotal evidence: no landlord has ever called us stating they are going to abandon their smoke-free policy, blamed us for giving them bad information or stated it was not feasible to maintain the policy after the fact. Discussion: do landlords with voluntary policies have more of a vested interest & sense of responsibility/ownership?

Voluntary policies pay off in Maine Approximately 90,000 units or 40% of multi-unit population protected. 50% of our Public Housing Authorities are smoke-free. Nearly 1700 units on our smoke-free registry. 21,500 average hits per month to website. Smoke-free housing should be the norm, not the exception!