More landlords in Maine are offering smoke-free buildings. That's according to the Smoke-Free Housing Coalition of Maine, which says a series of surveys has found that 45 percent of private landlords in Maine now offer rentals in buildings where smoking is prohibited.
That's a 10 percent increase since 2008, the group says. The coalition says children exposed to second hand smoke in the home are 44 percent more likely to suffer from asthma, a disease that is more common in Maine than most states, according to federal health authorites.
The coalition says it surveyed more than 5,000 private Maine landlords on four separate occasions in a 30-month period. Among the findings: 68 percent of Maine landlords surveyed know that it is legal to have a smoke-free policy in place. The coalition says 90 percent of public housing authorities in Maine now have a smoke-free policy.
The group's Amy Olfene says despite the increase, the demand for smoke-free housing exceeds the supply. She says 78 percent of Maine tenants want to live in a smoke-free environment.
"Even though we're excited that forty-five percent of landlords now have a smokefree policy in place, it doesn't meet the demands of the tenants in the state," she says.