🚨The Issue

Across New Jersey, tenants residing in multi-unit dwellings are increasingly exposed to secondhand and thirdhand smoke as well as aerosols. These harmful emissions stem from cigarettes, cigars, marijuana, vaping devices, and various smoking products. They infiltrate living spaces through vents and HVAC systems, walls and ceilings, cracks in floors and baseboards, hallways, and poorly sealed construction.

The health implications of such exposure are profound and far-reaching. Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, many of which are toxic and known to cause cancer. Vulnerable groups — such as children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing health conditions — are at even greater risk, suffering from respiratory issues, cardiovascular disease, and other adverse health effects. These pollutants compromise quality of life and infringe upon a tenant’s right to a safe, healthy, smoke-free living environment.🏡💔

⚠️The Gap in Protection

New Jersey already enforces strong restrictions on smoking in public spaces, workplaces, and shared community areas. Yet there is no system that protects residents from smoke inside the place they should feel safest: their home.

Currently, no statewide structure exists that tenants can rely on to:

• report smoke infiltration,have it documented by an official entity, request investigation or enforcement, or escalate issues when landlords fail to act.
• This leaves tenants unprotected in their own living spaces — despite New Jersey’s strong public health stance in every other environment.🚫🚬

⭐ What Needs to Change

We are calling on New Jersey lawmakers, the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the Department of Health, and local housing authorities to take immediate action by implementing the following protections:

1. 🏛️Create a Formal, State-Backed Enforcement System

New Jersey must establish a statewide structure with local and state oversight, including:

• A local point of contact where tenants can report smoke infiltration
• Trained inspectors who can verify and document issues
• A state-level agency or division responsible for enforcement, oversight, and escalation
• A standardized reporting process so tenants are not left trying to “prove” the issue alone
• Tenants need a real agency — not guesswork, not landlord promises — to investigate complaints, document violations, and ensure action is taken.

2. Strengthen Building Standards and Require Statewide Compliance

Multi-unit dwellings must adopt protections to prevent cross-unit infiltration, including:

• Sealing walls, ceilings, and floors
• Updating or separating ventilation systems
• Installing filtration or purification support where needed
• Routine inspections to ensure structural integrity

These protections must be implemented statewide by a clear, enforceable deadline, ensuring tenants are not left waiting for basic health and safety.

3.💸 Ensure Smoke-Mitigation Costs Are Not Passed to Non-Smoking Units

Non-smoking tenants should not be required to pay higher rent or fees because a building allows smoking in certain units. Any ventilation upgrades, filtration systems, sealing work, or other smoke-mitigation measures required due to smoking-permitted units must:

• be paid for by the property owner, or be reflected only in the units where smoking is allowed, not spread across non-smoking residents.

New Jersey can enforce this through clear regulations requiring:

• separate cost allocation for smoking-permitted units, lease language protections for non-smoking units, and
  rent-roll audits by state or local housing authorities to ensure compliance.

⭐ This ensures clean-air protections do not become an unfair financial burden on tenants who are trying to avoid exposure in their own homes.

4. 🧾Enforce Meaningful Penalties for Non-Compliance

Stronger consequences should apply to properties that:

• Advertise themselves as “smoke-free” but fail to enforce or maintain that promise
• Ignore tenant complaints
• Fail to address documented cases of smoke infiltration
• Do not meet the statewide deadline for compliance
• Penalties must be strong enough to create real accountability and protect tenant health. 

Why This Matters

Every tenant has the right to breathe clean, safe air in their own home.

Implementing statewide protections will:

• Reduce exposure to harmful chemicals
• Improve the quality of life for thousands of families
• Protect children, seniors, and medically vulnerable residents
• Modernize New Jersey’s housing standards
• Hold property owners accountable
• Ensure non-smokers are not involuntarily exposed to pollutants
• New Jersey protects residents in public — now it must protect them at home.

Sign this petition to demand statewide protections and stronger housing standards that guarantee clean air for all tenants in New Jersey.