Normal0014532586GASP of Colorado215317511.1282000

Boulder, CO - The Group to Alleviate Smoking Pollution (GASP of Colorado) has launched the Colorado Guide to Smoke-Free Housing on-line at www.mysmokefreehousing.com. The Web site lists more than 500 multiunit residential buildings with nearly 20,000 units in Colorado that do not allow smoking in the entire building or on the property.

An increasing number of building owners and managers of multi-unit residential properties are beginning to adopt policies prohibiting smoking in Colorado and the U.S. Golden West Senior Apartments in Boulder is the largest building listed , with 311 units, followed by AMLI at Inverness in Englewood, which opened in 2009 with 309 units and has a no-smoking policy that covers the entire property.

There is no charge to be listed at www.mysmokefreehousing.com but the nonprofit group is seeking sponsors to improve the Web site.

"Since the passage of the Colorado Clean Indoor Air Act there has been a growing interest and need for living, working, and socializing in a smoke-free environment. We think www.mysmokefreehousing.com will be a valuable resource for people looking for clean air living and for property managers," says Pete Bialick, the group's president.

Landlords are finding that no-smoking policies are becoming a big selling point for renters since nearly 83% of all adults in Colorado do not smoke. No-smoking policies can also reduce the costs of cleaning and repairing carpets, fixtures, andwindow treatments; decrease the need for priming and painting walls;and may possibly qualify the property for lower insurance premiums.

For residents, exposure to secondhand smoke in their living space can be a problem that leads to serious health consequences when it infiltrates into their residences through doors, windows, or ventilation systems. For many of them, the exposure to secondhand smoke can be just as intense, harmful, and more prolonged than exposure to secondhand smoke during a full day's work.

Ventilation or air-cleaning systems cannot resolve the problem, according to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). The group stated in 2006: "At present, the only means of effectively eliminating health risk associated with indoor exposure is to ban smoking activity."

www.mysmokefreehousing.org, another GASP Web site, provides tenants and landlords with helpful tips on how to resolve problems and implement no-smoking policies.

The Group to Alleviate Smoking Pollution (GASP of Colorado) is a 501-C-3 statewide nonprofit organization established in 1977 that promotes and advocates for smoke-free policies, educates the public about the dangers of secondhand smoke, and provides assistance for people having problems with tobacco-smoke pollution.GASP of Colorado is supported by member and public donations and also receives some tobacco prevention funding from the state of Colorado.