MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota is pushing beyond its Twin Cities campus for smoke-free housing.

University officials are partnering with the Minneapolis Department of Health to encourage off-campus landlords to update their leases to include a smoke-free policy.

Jackie Siewert is an outreach coordinator for the advocacy group Live Smoke Free. Siewert tells the Minnesota Daily the group has spent much of January talking with area landlords about the issue.

A survey by the Office for Off-Campus Housing says about half the properties in Marcy-Holmes, Prospect Park and Southeast Como don’t have ‘no smoking’ policies.