CCOC’s No-Smoking Policy: how a tenant and member-directed organization makes big decisions

We’re proud that tenants at CCOC have a say in how their housing is run. As a tenant and member directed organization, tenants are always part of how we make big decisions. One example of this is our no-smoking policy.

In January 2010, two tenants who are also members of CCOC gave us a resolution to designate certain floors in our multi-level buildings as no- smoking. This was discussed and voted on by CCOC’s membership – made up of tenants and community members – at our annual general meeting that year.

The membership really liked the idea of giving people the chance to live in a no-smoking environment, and felt strongly that CCOC should be moving in this direction. But our building experts told us that although no-smoking floors might not smell smoky, the particles from second-hand smoke would still travel through floors and ceilings. So instead, the members voted to make the new Beaver Barracks development a set of completely no-smoking properties. And they told staff to report back on how the policy is working and how to move forward with next steps.

We’ve just finished a survey of tenants at our Beaver Barracks properties, asking them how they feel about the no-smoking policy. 98% of survey respondents said that they support the no-smoking policy. They gave us good feedback that will help improve enforcement and complaints, and useful ideas on how to roll out the policy at other buildings. You can read the survey results here.

We are proceeding slowly with other CCOC properties in 2014, starting with our smaller buildings and using one of our larger buildings as a pilot. Tenants will be involved at every step of the way; that’s just how we make big decisions.