Today, several anti-smoking groups will gather to celebrate the one-year anniversary of Auburn Housing Authority’s successful smoke-free policy.

They will also unveil a Web site (www.smokefreeforme.org) that helps private landlords gather information about making their properties smoke-free.

Landlords have the right to ban smoking from their properties as long as the prohibition is included in a tenant’s lease. According to Jessica Balkun Begley, the health promotion manager for Healthy Androscoggin, it’s no different when a landlord bans pets.

We’re sure smokers would disagree, and, to be sure, the information presented by the Web site doesn’t specifically advocate that property owners hang out a “No smoking” sign, but the message is pretty clear. It’s cheaper to turn a non-smoking apartment over after a tenant leaves and other tenants are protected from secondhand smoke.

In a catalog that goes with the Web site, the Smoke-Free Housing Committee points out potential liability for landlords who allow smoking, which comes across as a heavy-handed way to make the point.

But the campaign makes sense. Surveys from around the state have found that most tenants favor smoke-free buildings but that most landlords don’t realize they have the right to meet that market demand. Providing information allows tenants and landlords to make their own decisions.

The places where people can smoke continue to narrow. That creates real problems for them. It’s expanded from public places and bars and restaurants and now into some housing.

Ultimately, the goal is to protect people from involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke. As regulations become more strict, it’s going to become harder and harder for people to smoke. That’s not a terrible thing.