Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

The District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) is a public housing agency based in Washington, D.C. Our website www.dchousing.org is an information and communication technology that informs the public about the DCHA’s mission and activities.

This Privacy Policy governs your visit to www.dchousing.org, and explains how we collect, safeguard and disclose information that results from your visit and/or use of our website.

DCHA reserves all rights to amend this Privacy Policy. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Definitions

WEBSITE means the www.dchousing.org website operated by the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA).

PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION (PII) means data about a living individual who can be identified from those data (or from those and other information either in our possession or likely to come into our possession) that has been shared with DCHA via the website. PII may include, but is not limited to:

  • First Name and Last Name
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Street Address, City, State, Province, ZIP/Postal Code, Country
  • Cookies and Usage Data

USAGE DATA is data collected automatically either generated by the use of website or from website infrastructure itself (for example, the duration of a page visit).

COOKIES are small files stored on your device (computer,  smartphone or tablet).

THE DATA CONTROLLER means a natural or legal person who (either alone or jointly or in common with other persons) determines the purposes for which and the manner in which any PII is, or will be, processed. For the purpose of this Privacy Policy, DCHA is the Data Controller.

DATA PROCESSORS (OR SERVICE PROVIDERS) means any natural or legal person who processes the data on behalf of the Data Controller. We may use the services of various Service Providers in order to process your data more effectively.

DATA SUBJECT is any living individual who is the subject of PII.

THE USER is the individual using our website. The User corresponds to the Data Subject, who is the subject of PII.

Anonymous Access

You can visit and browse our website home page without disclosing any PII. DCHA’s website does not share any information with third party Web service providers. However, DCHA makes no claim regarding, and is not responsible for, the privacy practices or the content of websites to which our website is linked.

Collection & Secure Transmission of Information

Personal Identifying Information

While using our website, you may choose to provide certain PII on forms that actively gather information that can be used to contact or identify you.

We may use PII to contact you with materials and other information on DCHA programs and services that may be of interest to you.

We do not collect information about our visitors from other sources, such as private organizations, public records or institutions.

Please be assured that the website is equipped with security measures to protect the PII provided to us.

Usage Data

We may also collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our website or when you access our website by or through any device (computer, smartphone or tablet).

This Usage Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our website that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on the pages of our website, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

When you access the website with a mobile device (smartphone or tablet), this Usage Data may include information such as the type of device you use, your device unique ID, the IP address of your device, your device operating system, the type of Internet browser you use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data.

Cookies Data

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our website and we hold certain information.

Cookies are text files, or entries in larger files, with a small amount of data that may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are used to collect and track information on how our website is used, and to improve and analyze our website.

You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our website.

The use of cookies is a standard practice among Internet websites.

Examples of Cookies we use:

Session Cookies: Temporary files that stay active only while your browser is open and delete automatically when you close the browser.

Tracking Cookies: Gather data on how you use a site, helping DCHA see popular pages and improve performance.

Preference Cookies: Remember your preferences and various settings, such as language selection.

Security Cookies: For security purposes.

Use of Data

DCHA uses the collected PII for limited purposes:

  • to allow you to participate in interactive features of our website when you choose to do so
  • to provide customer support
  • in any other way we may describe when you provide the information

DCHA uses the collected Usage Data for various purposes:

  • to provide and maintain our website
  • to gather analysis or valuable information so that we can improve our website
  • to monitor the usage of our website
  • to detect, prevent and address technical issues

Retention of Data

We will retain your PII only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your PII to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

We will also retain Usage Data for internal analysis purposes. Usage Data is generally retained for a shorter period, except when this data is used to strengthen the security or to improve the functionality of our website, or we are legally obligated to retain this data for longer time periods.

Security of Data

The security of your data is important to us but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Disclosure of Data & Service Providers

We may employ third-party companies and individuals to facilitate our website (“Service Providers”), perform website-related services or assist us in analyzing how our website is used.

These third parties have access to your PII only to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Links to Other Sites

Our Service may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click a third-party link, you will be directed to that third-party’s site. We strongly advise you to review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third-party sites or services.