Advocates and public health officials will celebrate the city’s push for smoke-free housing this weekend in Codman Square. The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC), Boston Alliance for Community Health (BACH) and Healthy Community Champions, a program out of Boston Partnerships to Improve Community Health (PICH) are sponsoring the free event on Sat., July 22 from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at Codman Square Commons Park at the corner of Talbot and Washington Street.

Dr. Bill Loesch, who has been involved with various community initiatives that focus on smoking prevention over the last three decades, said the event is aimed at raising awareness.

“The celebration is basically just a way to thank people and developers who want smoking to stop in the community,” Loesch said. “For the last two years working with BPHC and BACH, [my] job has been to go throughout Boston and talk to landlords and encourage them to turn their current housing, private or public, into smoke-free housing. We also talk to developers about designing buildings to make sure they are built smoke-free.”

The partnership between BPHC, BACH and Healthy Community Champions has resulted in thousands of residents now living in smoke-free units. The strides in prevention have resulted in Mayor Walsh’s declaration of smoke-free housing day. City of Boston’s Elderly Commission will also be in attendance to speak about how to reduce smoking in the elderly population.

“Hopefully the City of Boston will have more residences go smoke-free and reduce the number of people going to the hospital from things like asthma and lung cancer. It prevents people from getting tobacco and reduces the time they spend in the hospital cutting down the overall cost of healthcare,” said Loesch.

The rain location for this event will be inside Great Hall at The Codman Square Health Center.