Results of the secondhand smoke survey
Last May, the Van Ness South Tenants Association posted an online survey on secondhand smoke. The survey was created as a result of complaints from residents of 3003 Van Ness, which is advertised as a non-smoking building.
A recent story in The Washington Post, “Apartment dwellers plagued by secondhand smoke have little recourse,” brought increased public attention to this issue. The article focuses on the Parkwest apartment building in Woodley Park, but it could apply to any of the many multi-family apartment buildings in the city.
The Washington Post story, which focuses on just one resident of one apartment building, might (unintentionally) lead a reader to believe that the problem of secondhand smoke is isolated. However, our survey of 104 respondents from more than a dozen buildings, suggests that the problem is much more widespread.
A much larger, professional survey is needed to draw definitive conclusions. In the meantime, we think that our simple online survey can provide some insight into how secondhand smoke affects residents of apartment buildings in Washington, D.C.
RESULTS OF THE SECONDHAND SMOKE SURVEY
Number of respondents: 104
Number of respondents living in apartment buildings: 90
Number of respondents living in condo or coop buildings: 14
Percentage of respondents living in buildings advertised as nonsmoking: 61%
How serious is the problem of secondhand smoke in your building?
Not a problem: 9%
A minor problem: 17%
A somewhat serious problem: 40%
A very serious problem: 34%
Do you experience secondhand smoke in your unit?
Yes: 93%
Is secondhand marijuana smoke a problem in your unit?
Yes: 71%
HEALTH AFFECTS
Is secondhand smoke physically irritating to you?
Yes: 69%
Does secondhand smoke aggravate a medical condition?
Yes: 35%
Does secondhand smoke hurt your ability to work at home?
Yes: 36%
Does secondhand marijuana smoke in your apartment make you feel dizzy or high?
Yes: 29%
TAKING ACTION
Have you considered moving because of secondhand smoke?
Yes: 38%
Have you complained to building management about secondhand smoke?
Yes: 46%
Have you complained to city authorities about secondhand smoke?
Yes: 11%
POLICY POSITIONS
Percentage who support a ban on smoking in all multifamily buildings: 61%
Percentage who support a ban on smoking only in buildings advertised as nonsmoking: 26%
Percentage who say that companies that advertising their buildings as non-smoking must enforce that policy: 83%
comments FROM RESPONDENTS
“I live in a non-smoking building. If secondhand smoke is poisonous then why isn't this taken more seriously? Why aren't the people breaking their lease punished why do the people who want to live safely in quiet enjoyment suffer and nothing is done?”
“The hallways smell like cigarette smoke when residents smoke inside their apts.”
“I have been complaining for years to management and they have done nothing!”
“I can’t sleep because of people constantly smoking on my floor. I don’t care if people smoke because that’s their lifestyle choice but it’s getting into my unit and that’s not fair.”
“I have complained various times to management about the secondhand smoke that comes into my apartment. It’s difficult to work at home, the smoke is irritating when it comes into my apartment and even when the windows are closed, I still smell smoke! Enough is enough.”
“Secondhand smoke sucks for those of us who do not smoke. It causes us serious health effects.”
“I am allergic to marijuana and secondhand smoke makes me incredibly dizzy and prevents me from sleeping and sometimes forces me to evacuate my apartment at inopportune times. I've noticed it is more frequently abused in the winter.”
“I have epilepsy. I cannot risk exposure to marijuana smoke as it can induce my seizures. Suddenly I’m smelling it when I open balcony door or windows This is intolerable. There is no way to control it aside from a total ban here.”
“We smell marijuana almost every night in our apt living room and kitchen. We smell it also in the stairwell and outside when we are on our balcony. We smell cigarette smoke when we pass one apartment on our floor. All this smoke is irritating to my lungs which are already damaged by everyday exposure to secondhand smoke at my workplace several decades ago. And then there is the possibility of lung cancer! I have never smoked.”
“Sometimes residents also smell hard drugs in the hallways. Not many residents who live near me seem to smoke, so I think many others in my building are having a much harder time with this than I am. But I occasionally smell cigarette smoke coming into my unit from a source I can't identify. Other times there's a strong smell of marijuana in the elevator. Other times, some residents smoke outside, but not at the required 25 feet from the building. Management knows who many of those smoking in the building are but does not seem to do anything.”
“It is not only cigarette and weed, but exposure to K2, crack cocaine, cocaine, PCP, anything they roll in the cigarette. I have been high without taking any drug.”
“My landlord does not enforce its non-smoking rules.”
“We have had to buy air purifiers and smoke odor eliminating candles to deal with the smoke coming into our apartment. We have brought up the issue with building management and we know neighbors have as well. The problem might go away for a week but then it comes right back. There seems to be no real enforcement of the policy.”
“I have asthma and the marijuana smoke throughout the building really bothers me!”
“The cigarette smoke there was so bad that we couldn't open our windows during the height of the pandemic, because a person below us was constantly smoking on their patio, and we had to paper over our kitchen vent.”
"This is an environmental justice issue that lawmakers willingly overlook as they think people have the right to smoke (they do not per the Supreme Court) and that this non-existent right supersedes the health of the majority, with children the most harmed due to development (smaller lungs, brains, etc.)”
“I have been complaining about this for years just this year alone I have been begging every single week for management to stop the smoker on my floor - all I ever get is excuses and nothing concrete is done. The elevators and basement frequently reek of pot or cigarettes smoking has to be banned in residential buildings.”
“I worked with on the National Tobacco Settlement with the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and am well-informed on the dangers of secondhand smoke as a result. It is baffling that nearly 20 years later, everyone is protected from the dangers of smoking in DC except those who live or work in multifamily buildings or public housing. HUD banned smoking in public housing years ago in an effort to protect children and those who suffer from health issues. So, unless one can afford $1M+ detached single-family home, lives in public housing or lives in a building where it is banned and enforced (rare), everyone in between is subject to the dangerous toxins that others choose to use.”
"I occasionally smell marijuana smoke in the hallways.”
“My mother was visiting this past weekend and we noticed secondhand smoke on several occasions, most notably in the hallways and the elevator (which was terrible because we were trapped and the odor was strong)”
“Some individual tenants in our building have complained to management and the tenants association of particularly bad smoke from neighbors. It is usually when the smoking is outside on an adjacent balcony and is usually marijuana.”
“Our property management does not take seriously the policy of a non-smoking building. Residents continue to smoke (cigarettes and marijuana) in their units, in the corridors and outside the main/rear entrances with no warnings from management. We became a non-smoking building in January 2020 and the policy is not enforced. Management doesn't care.”
“It took weeks and weeks of us complaining while my wife was pregnant before our building management finally stopped it.”
“Mine is a prewar building with very porous apartments, so infiltration into units is a big problem.”
“We continually smell marijuana smoke from our balcony.”
"A designated outside smoking area is underneath my bedroom and bathroom windows. The smoke drifts into those areas with or without open windows.”
“Several years ago, my neighbor was a heavy smoker and the smell intruded into my apartment. Fortunately, he left and I have not experienced the problem since, but I know that this depends on whoever happens to move in near me. I also find that marijuana smoke and cigarette smoke is pulled in from outside -- smokers on the public sidewalk, which a property-wide ban would not help.”