Raija McIntyre, the Smoke-Free Policy Specialist on the STEPP team, catalogs clean indoor air complaints throughout the year. These are the stats for 2024: 

Total complaints: 207 (down from 222 in 2023)

• 117 (57%) were secondhand smoke complaints in multiunit housing facilities. These are not protected by the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act
• 81 (39%) were Colorado Clean Indoor Air complaints, meaning they were in settings protected by the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act. 
• 3 were illegal tobacco sale complaints, and 
• 6 were “other,” such as single-family homes

How this connects to our work: 

The Surgeon General just reported that one of the settings that impact our most vulnerable populations is multiunit (or multifamily) housing, which we see reflected in this data.

View “Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities” via the Department of Health and Human Services website to read the Surgeon General’s report.

Thank you to all grantees who have worked with Raija McIntyre and multiunit housing Technical Assistance provider Peggy Sarcomo. As we increase our understanding of smoke-free multiunit housing, we can increase smoke-free policies! 

Congratulations to everyone who helped protect these 207 constituents!