Fighting to protect Starrett City tenants from secondhand smoke exposure in their homes.
Secondhand smoke harms children and adults, and the only way to fully protect nonsmokers is to eliminate smoking in all apartments.
Mission
We are an organizing collective made up of individuals who live and work in the Spring Creek Towers aka Starrett City housing development. We have come together out of a need to address the ongoing public health crisis that is secondhand smoke apartment incursion and how it continues to adversely impact the health of residents living in multi-unit dwellings.
Housing Inequality
Smoke-free housing should not be a luxury out of reach. All New Yorkers - including families in privately owned affordable housing - deserve to breathe smoke-free air that is not laced with toxic nicotine or marijuana.
While New Yorkers with options are choosing housing with smoke-free protections, the great majority of New Yorkers who are rent-burdened or struggle in the city’s competitive housing market have few options but to stay where they are when their children and families are subjected to dangerous secondhand smoke pollution in their homes.
Did You Know?
Many who live in affordable housing are especially affected by secondhand smoke, including children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
Secondhand smoke can travel into an apartment from other apartments and common areas through doorways, cracks in walls, electrical lines, ventilation systems and plumbing. Opening windows and using fans does not completely remove secondhand smoke. Heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems cannot eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke. In fact, these systems can distribute secondhand smoke throughout a building.
“A zip code should not determine a person’s health.”
-Dr. Oxiris Barbot, MD, Commissioner of New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
“Reducing health inequities requires policymakers, community groups, health professionals, researchers, and residents to work together for change at every level.”
SCT Smoke Free
DISCLAIMER: SCT Smoke Free will not provide legal advice over the internet, over the phone, or in person. The information on the website is not legal advice but curated information from various New York government agencies and organizations. Finally, the information contained on this website is not guaranteed to be up to date. Therefore, please seek the advice of competent legal counsel licensed in New York.