Even once a cigarette is stubbed out, the invisible poisons can stay around for up to 5 hours. Cigarette smoke is made up of particles, smaller than household dust, so it moves easily from room to room. There are no safe levels of exposure to second-hand smoke.

Children are more vulnerable to second-hand smoke than adults. They have small airways and breathe faster, their lungs and immune systems are still developing. It is estimated that in the UK around 2 million children are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke in the home.

Third-hand smoke consists of tobacco residue left behind after smoking, it builds up on surfaces and furnishings. Children can ingest third-hand by putting their hands in their mouths after touching contaminated surfaces, such as furniture and toys.

Smoke drift is the name for indirect second-hand smoke exposure from other people’s homes. Low levels of exposure may cause irritation to the eyes and lungs, nausea and headaches as well as creating an unpleasant smell in neighbouring properties.

In November 2016, the Obama administration announced new regulations to ban smoking in all public housing developments nationwide by 2018. Smoking will not be permitted inside and within 25 ft of any buildings.

The new regulations protect millions of low-income tenants from the effects of second-hand smoke. The biggest impact will be through the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). NYCHA is the largest & oldest public housing authority in the US with more than 400,000 tenants in over 178,000 apartments.

They did not adopt a hard-line policy, rather choosing to make it about choice and encouraging smokefree housing for all, in a non-confrontational way.

Graphics for you to share with your tenants on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They have space for personalised logos. The graphics cover stats about smoking in the home, tips to creating a smokefree home, support to quit smoking and the cost of smoking.

This guide for housing associations and landlords is filled with advice and information for you to highlight and share with your colleagues and tenants.

This presentation has all the basic stats and the reason behind our campaign.