OPPORTUNITY HOME SAN ANTONIO
Opportunity Home is the largest public housing authority in Texas providing services to more than 57,000 individuals in the San Antonio area. Opportunity Home’s website, homesa.org, is a digital channel the organization uses to communicate with the community and the people it serves and includes information on the agency’s housing programs, community resources, public meeting, news releases, research reports and more.
Opportunity Home values individual privacy and is committed to respecting your privacy and to comply with applicable data protection and privacy laws. We want to give our website visitors the opportunity to know what information we collect about them and how we use it. At all times, Opportunity Home reserves the right to disclose information where required by law or to comply with valid legal process (such as a search warrant, subpoena or court order) to protect Opportunity Home’s rights or property, including emergencies or when safety is at risk.
Opportunity Home reserves all rights to make amendments to this Privacy Policy.
ACCESS
You can feel comfortable knowing Opportunity Home takes all necessary precautions to ensure users can browse our website without disclosing personal data unless they choose to do so voluntarily. We do, however, collect your email address as a way of communicating and responding to your requests, as well as other personal information you might share with us voluntarily, when you desire to participate in one of our programs or answer a Opportunity Home survey. Opportunity Home does not share any information with third party Web service providers. We do, however, collect your email address as a form of communication and correspondence to respond to requests, as well as other information you might supply voluntarily, such as survey information. We may also send you updates or notices about our organization and the services we offer that may be of interest to you.
To equip visitors to our website with local resources, our website contains links to other sites. Other Internet sites you visit — including those linked from Opportunity Home’s website — may have their own privacy policies or no policy at all. Other websites might use personal information differently than our policy permits. We strongly encourage you to review the privacy policies of these linked sites before providing any of your personal information.
COLLECTION AND USE OF INFORMATION
The collection of information through our website and the disclosure of that information are subject to the provisions of federal and state laws governing data privacy, the Internet Security and Privacy Act and the General Data Protection Regulation. As such, we become the sole owners of the information collected on this site. We only have access to/collect information you voluntarily provide through e-mail or by initiating an online transaction with us, such as a survey, registration or order form, or any other direct contact from you. This may include your name, email address, phone number, street address, username and passwords, feedback, information relating to your age, gender, and language, bank account number, credit card details and other such financial information you provide. We will not sell or license this information to anyone.
We may contact you to inform you of new services or programs we may offer and to conduct market research when we have your consent or it is otherwise allowed. We may use your personal data to personalize our offering and to provide you with more relevant services. If you choose not to provide information to us via the website, you may still request services or products by other means.
When visiting Opportunity Home’s website, it automatically collects and stores the Internet Protocol Address assigned either to your Internet service provider or directly to your computer and the domain name you used, but not your email address. This information allows us to track the date and time our website was visited by you, the web page that was visited, any websites accessed before or after your visit to our website, and the browser and operating system you are using. We may use this information, in aggregate form, for system maintenance and to better understand how our visitors use our site and services and to make improvements to our website.
We prioritize your privacy and data security. Our AI systems have been designed to protect your information from unauthorized access, disclosure, and manipulation. We comply with data protection regulations and always keep your data safe while using it to provide you with the best service possible.
RETAINING OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
Opportunity Home must maintain complete and accurate accounts and other records for the program in accordance with HUD requirements, and in a manner that permits a speedy and effective audit. All such records must be made available to HUD or the Comptroller General of the United States upon request. In addition, Opportunity Home must ensure that all applicant and participant files are maintained in a way that protects an individual’s privacy rights, and that comply with VAWA 2022 confidentiality requirements.
CONSENT AND LEGAL REQUIREMENTS
The collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of social security numbers (SSN), employer identification numbers (EIN), any information derived from these numbers, and income information of applicants and participants must be conducted, to the extent applicable, in compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974, and all other provisions of Federal, State and local law. Applicants and participants, including all adults in the household, are required to sign a consent form, HUD-9886, Authorization for Release of Information. This form incorporates the Federal Privacy Act Statement and describes how the information collected using the form may be used, and under what conditions HUD or the PHA may release the information collected.
SECURITY
We use state-of-the-art technology to keep any information you voluntarily provide as secure as possible. We also have in place privacy protection control contractual obligations in place with our vendors for privacy protection control which are designed to ensure that your personal data shared with that vendor is protected from unauthorized access or disclosure. Only Opportunity Home authorized employees are permitted to have access to your personally-identifiable data provided by our website visitors, and that access is limited to what is reasonably needed to perform an employee’s responsibilities, such as providing updates, or notices or customer service. Employees who violate our privacy policies are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination. We enforce our internal policies and guidelines through an appropriate selection of activities, including proactive and reactive risk management, security and privacy engineering, training and assessments. We take appropriate steps to address online security, physical security, risk of data loss and other such risks taking into consideration the risk represented by the processing and the nature of the data being protected. Also, we limit access to our databases containing personal data to only authorized persons having a justified need to access such information.
MANDATORY DISCLOSURES
We may be obligated by mandatory law to disclose your personal data to certain authorities or other third parties such as law enforcement agencies. We may also disclose and otherwise process your personal data in accordance with applicable law to defend Opportunity Home’s legitimate interests, for example, in legal proceedings or in connection with governmental requests and filings.
CHANGES TO THE POLICY
Opportunity Home may from time to time change this Policy or change, modify or withdraw access to this site at any time with or without notice. However, if this Policy is changed in a material, adverse way, Opportunity Home will post a notice advising of such change at the beginning of this Policy and on this site’s home page for 30 days. We recommend that you re-visit this Policy from time to time to learn of any such changes to this Policy.