Spokane Housing Authority
Privacy Notice
This privacy notice for Spokane Housing Authority (“SHA,” “Agency,” “we,” “us,” or “our”), describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share (“process”) your information when you use our services (“Services”), such as when you:
- Visit our website at https://www.spokanehousing.org, or any website of ours that links to this privacy notice
- Engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing, or events
Questions or concerns? Reading this privacy notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our website or third-party services or use private browsing techniques. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at prr@spokanehousing.org.
What information we collect if you only browse this site
If you only browse, read pages, or download information, we automatically collect and store the following information about your visit:
- A portion of the internet protocol address and domain name used. The IP address is a numerical identifier assigned either to your internet service provider or directly to your computer. We use the IP address to direct internet traffic to you. This address can be translated to determine the domain name of your service provider (e.g. xcompany.com or yourschool.edu);
- The type of browser and operating system you used;
- The date and time you visited this site;
- The webpages or services you accessed at this website; and
- The website you visited prior to coming to this website.
- Approximate geolocation.
- Approximate demographics including age range, gender, and preferred language.
This information does not identify you personally. It is logged in aggregate and used by SHA only to improve the content of our web services and to help us understand how people are using our services. SHA analyzes the website logs to determine how our website is being used, so we may continually improve the website’s usefulness to the public.
For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, the SHA computer systems used to support this service employ software programs to monitor network traffic and identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations and the security purposes mentioned elsewhere in this notice, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits. Raw data logs used for no other purposes are scheduled for regular destruction according to Chapter 40.14 RCW, Preservation and Destruction of Public Records.
The records retention schedules published by the State Archives require us to keep this information only so long as it is useful and then destroy it; these schedules change from time to time.
What information we collect if you volunteer it
If during your visit to our website you send us an email, we collect the contents of your email message (including audio, video and graphics information) along with your return email address. We use this information to respond directly to you, address the issues you identify in your email, further improve our website or forward it to another agency for appropriate action. The information is retained according to Chapter 40.14 RCW, Preservation and Destruction of Public Records.
If you participate in a survey, information we collect is used to make improvements to the website and collect demographic information on website use.
If you perform some other transaction online, information we collect will be used solely for the purpose outlined on the form.
Personal Information
Personally identifiable information (“PII”) as defined in this Privacy Policy, means information about a natural person that is readily identifiable to that specific individual. Personal information includes such things as your name, address, and phone number.
We will not collect PII about you unless you voluntarily provide it to us by sending us email or completing an online form or survey. You may choose not to contact us by email or to provide any PII using an online form or survey. Your choice to not participate in these activities will not restrict or impair your ability to use our site and read or download any information provided on the site. If you choose to provide PII by emailing us, participating in a survey, or completing an online form, we may store this information.
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) governs information gathering online from or about children under the age of 13. We are especially concerned about protecting children’s privacy. Under COPPA, a website must get parental permission before collecting personally identifiable information about a child under the age of 13.
If you have questions about how we use your personally identifiable information, you can contact our agency at prr@spokanehousing.org.
Public Access to Information
In the State of Washington, laws exist to ensure that government is open, meaning the public has a right to access appropriate records and information possessed by state government. At the same time, there are exceptions to the public’s right to access public records that serve various needs including the privacy of individuals. Exceptions are provided by both state and federal laws.
As a public agency, all our information is governed by laws such as Washington’s Public Records Act RCW 42.56. Information you send us may become a public record, and it may be subject to public inspection and copying if not otherwise protected by federal or state law.
Information collected through use of this site may be public information and subject to inspection and copying by members of the public. See Chapter 42.56 RCW for more information.
In the event of a conflict between this Privacy Policy and the Public Records Act or other laws governing the agency’s disclosure of records, the Public Records Act or other applicable laws will supersede.
Correcting Personally Identifiable Information
State law requires agencies that collect personally identifiable information to provide “procedures for correcting inaccurate information, including establishing mechanisms for individuals to review information about them and recommend changes in information they believe to be inaccurate.” RCW 43.105.365.
You can access any personally identifiable information we collect about you by using the information in the Contact Information section at the end of this Policy. We will do our best to correct factual errors in your personally identifiable information if you send us a written request that clearly shows the error. We will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections.
User Tracking and Customization of Pages
To better serve our users, we use a variety of indicators to customize your browsing experience with this website, including “cookies.” If you use your browser settings options to block all cookies (including essential cookies) this could affect the availability and functionality of this website. We only have control over indicators we provide and not over third-party tools or other technologies deployed on this website that may be created by using embedded third-party applications.
Security
This Agency has taken steps to safeguard the integrity of its data and prevent unauthorized access to information maintained by us. These measures are designed and intended to prevent corruption of data, block unknown or unauthorized access to our systems and information, and to provide reasonable protection of information in our possession.
Copyright
This site contains text, artwork, photos or other content that is copyrighted by others and is being used with permission of the copyright holder. Therefore, we recommend that you contact our webmaster for permission to use any content contained on this site.
SHA and Social Media or Third-Party Sites
In addition to SHA’s official website, www.spokanehousing.org, SHA uses social media and third-party sites to provide SHA content in a different format that may be useful or interesting to you. When we use these sites, the information we provide is consistent with the intended purpose of the SHA website. No personally identifiable information (PII) may be requested or collected from social media sites. Please be aware that the privacy protection provided on social media and third-party sites that are not a part of the spokanehousing.org domain may not be the same as the privacy protection described here.
Privacy of our email lists
We maintain email lists to keep interested, eligible individuals informed about important topics, and individuals may affirmatively request to join them as well as opt out. We configure our list server software to refuse to divulge the email addresses of our list subscribers to anyone other than those whom we authorize. However, we are not the author of this software and are not responsible for any failures in the software to preserve subscriber anonymity.
Disclaimer
Neither Spokane Housing Authority, nor its commissioners, nor employees of the Spokane Housing Authority warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published by this system, nor endorses any content, viewpoints, products, or services linked from this system, and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of such information. Portions of such information may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity who relies on any information obtained from this system does so at their own risk.
Our website contains links to other websites. These include links to websites operated by other government agencies, nonprofit organizations and private businesses, including but not limited to the websites of our vendors. When you follow a link to another site, you are no longer on our website and this Privacy Notice will not apply, and you will be subject to the privacy policy of that new site.
References in this website to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by this Agency, or its officers, employees or agents.
We reserve the right to revise and update this Privacy Notice at any time without notice by posting the revision on our site. Approved by Board motion 7/28/2025.