The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $724,726 in a Healthy Homes Technical Studies grant to Harvard University and its partner, Beacon Communities, to evaluate a comprehensive smoke-free public housing policy in a multi-state setting.

The study will assess a comprehensive smoking ban in 52 multi-family properties offering affordable housing in six states and compare an enhanced, low-cost multi-component smoking cessation intervention method to a more standard intervention approach.

The grant funding will support research on increasing the effectiveness of hazard reduction methods.