Politics & Government
Joshua Arms Senior Complex Goes Smoke-Free
The 242-unit seniors building is the first in Joliet to prohibit smoking, according to the Will County Health Department.
Joshua Arms is the first multi-unit senior housing complex to go "smoke-free" in Joliet.
Residents of the 242-unit, multistory building at 1315 S. Rowell Ave. voted to take the action in the wake of a January 2011 fire caused by a tenant smoking a cigarette. Sprinklers were activated, causing a mass evacuation and damage that kept residents from being allowed to move back for three months, according to a release from the Will County Health Department.
The board of directors for Joshua Arms, which is owned by Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, voted to implement the residents' request in May and the building is now 100 percent smoke free, health department spokesman Vic Reato said.
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Since all of the other senior housing complexes in Joliet are overseen by the Joliet Housing Authority and do allow smoking, Joshua Arms becomes the first and only complex in the city to mandate that tenants not smoke, Reato said.
"The residents shared their need for safety and also their experience of having second-hand smoke coming into their apartments, which was disrupting their quality of living," Amy Hall, Joshua Arms' social services supervisor, said in the release. "We took their concerns and researched the steps we needed to take to make Joshua Arms a smoke-free building."
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The health department presented Joshua Arms with a special certificate acknowledging the accomplishment in a ceremony last week.
Smoke-free housing policies are becoming more common, especially since it gives landlords not only the ability to protect residents from second-hand smoke but reduces the risk of fire from cigarettes, the release said.
Landlords who are interested in making their facilities smoke-free or tenants who are interested in learning about the benefits of renting smoke-free should go to www.willcountyhealth.org <http://www.willcountyhealth.org/> or call 815-727-8769.
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