Williamstown, Massachusetts Passes First Law Outside of California

The small Massachusetts town of Williamstown has earned the significant distinction of becoming the first community outside of California to enact a local law that expands smokefree protections to multi-unit housing. Thanks to the advocacy of an individual community member, everyone living in Williamstown’s apartments, condominiums, and other multi-unit residences with 4 or more units will be able to breathe smokefree air at home.

At the annual Town Meeting in May, Williamstown citizens gathered to vote on a variety of municipal policy changes, including the citizen’s petition to adopt the smokefree multi-unit housing law, which was approved on a vote of 148-56. Due to the policy being enacted at the Town Meeting rather than by the typical process of tobacco prevention policies being enacted by the Board of Health, it needs an additional step of state approval before it is officially local law, but Williamstown is well on the way to providing healthier living environments for its multi-unit residents.

Williamstown’s decision brings to mind the adoption of the first smokefree multi-unit housing law in the country, where several residents of Belmont, CA asked the City Council to make their senior living property smokefree after years of secondhand smoke exposure and a fire in the building, and the Council decided to extend the smokefree protections to all multi-unit properties. Never underestimate the power of motivated community members to enact innovative change!

ANRF has a new tipsheet available, Implementation of Local Smokefree Multi-Unit Housing Laws, to provide guidance to communities based on what other cities and counties have found to be useful as they implement their new smokefree multi-unit housing laws.

You can Encourage your Community or Building to go Smokefree

More than 100 cities and counties in California have adopted local laws requiring all multi-unit housing in the community to be smokefree (soon we will add Williamstown, MA to our list).

While most communities do not yet have laws to address this situation, you can still take action. Write to your community officials, county or city supervisors, and let them know you want smokefree multi-unit housing in your community. It is important to know that apartment buildings owners, condominium boards, and owner/managers of other types of multi-unit housing do have the right to adopt a policy to not allow smoking in the building(s).

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