It is important that visitors to our site understand what information we gather about them, how we use it, and how we work to protect it. By using our website, and/or signing up for our newsletter and/or subscribing to our print journal, you consent to the information practices outlined in this privacy policy.

Who we Are

Shelterforce is a nonprofit news organization, published by the National Housing Institute, a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose primary purpose is to publish Shelterforce. We are headquartered in Montclair, New Jersey.

Information Collection

We track how our visitors use this site so that we can see what people like and don’t like. We also analyze and aggregate information about use patterns and share the aggregated data with our advertisers (for example, we keep track of how many users see and click on particular advertisements). We may also collect personal information about you via registration for newsletters, commenting, donations, and other areas. Where you have an opportunity to supply information about yourself you may choose not to provide requested information but in such cases you may not be able to use certain functions on this website.

Remember that any information you share in public areas, such as the Shelterforce comments area, becomes public, including your name (but not including your email address) and therefore the rest of this privacy policy does not apply to any information you choose to make public. We encourage visitors to Shelterforce to be cautious about what they disclose and that they do not post any information that they expect to keep private. “Personally identifiable information” is information that can be used to contact you or determine your specific identity. If other information is linked to this information, it also becomes personally identifiable information.

We will not release your name, email address, or any other personal information to anyone outside Shelterforce without your consent, unless we are under a legal order to do so, or there is an emergency involving danger to a person or property. We will not provide our advertisers or anyone else outside Shelterforce with any information specific to you unless we have your consent.

If you chose to provide your personally identifiable information for the purposes of a third-party contest, survey or newsletter, your consent shall be deemed to be given for the release of your personally identifiable information with regard to that third party only, in addition to Shelterforce. Only authorized Shelterforce employees or consultants are allowed access to personal information about you. Any employee or consultant who violates our privacy and security policies is subject to disciplinary action.

We occasionally have service contractors, third party agents, subsidiaries, affiliates, and joint ventures that perform functions on our behalf, including but not limited to credit card processing and website hosting. They have access to only the information needed to perform their functions, and are contractually obligated to maintain the confidentiality and security of the data.

The following plug-ins or apps collect data on our site:

  • Constant Contact (if you sign up for our weekly newsletter)
  • Advanced Ads (to improve/limit what ads you see)
  • Akismet (to filter spam out of comment sections)
  • Contact Form (if you use one of our contact forms to reach us)
  • Revolution Slider (to determine if you’ve seen popups or slide-ins before)

They are restricted from using or altering this data in anyway other than to provide the requested services to Shelterforce. In addition, we may always share, disclose, and transfer all information, postings, and any and all other personal and non-personal information we have collected to a successor-entity in the case of the sale of the assets of Shelterforce, corporate reorganization, merger, change in control, or other similar transaction.

Use and Disclosure of Anonymous Information

Anonymous information is any information other than personally identifiable information, including aggregate information derived from personally identifiable information.

Shelterforce may use this information:
To improve the Shelterforce website and service, to monitor traffic and general usage patterns, and for other general business purposes.

To inform publishers as to what content is appealing to readers, to inform advertisers of the usage habits or characteristics of the interested audience, and to advise potential donors so that they may better understand Shelterforce’s user base.

Cookies

A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier that is sent to your browser from a web site’s servers and stored on your computer. Each web site can send its own cookies to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) most browsers only permit a web site to access the cookies that the same web site has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.

Shelterforce may use cookies to identify you as a repeat visitor or customer of the website, to maintain session information for logged in users, and to track usage trends and patterns in order to better understand and improve areas of our website.

Shelterforce has no control over whether and how our advertisers use cookies that originate from their website. You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, but you may not be able to take full advantage of our site’s features.

We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads on our behalf. These companies may employ cookies and action tags to measure advertising effectiveness. All computers and servers on the internet use IP addresses to recognize and communicate with each other. We collect IP addresses to administer and analyze our site and report aggregate, non-personal information (such as how many visitors we have). When you call up our site on your computer, our servers enter the IP address of that computer into a log. To maintain our users’ anonymity, we do not associate IP addresses with records containing personal information.

We do not and cannot use cookies or IP address tracking to retrieve personal information from your computer.

Security

Shelterforce employs a number of security methods designed to prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure correct use of information. Your personal data will be stored within a database that is located behind a firewall for added security.

No data transmission over the Internet or any wireless network can be guaranteed to be secure. As a result, while we try to protect your personal information, we cannot ensure or guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. We are not liable for the illegal acts of any third party.

We do not encrypt normal web sessions; however, any transmission to the Shelterforce website or service of credit card information uses SSL encryption to help protect the data.

Links to other Sites

Shelterforce provides links and pointers to Web sites maintained by other organizations. Shelterforce provides these links as a convenience to users, but it does not operate or control such sites. Shelterforce also disclaims any responsibility for the information on those sites and any products or services offered there, and cannot vouch for the privacy policies of such sites. Shelterforce does not make any warranties or representations that any linked sites, or this site, will function without error or interruption, that defects will be corrected, or that the sites and their servers are free of viruses and other problems that can harm your computer.

Opt Out

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, we include detailed unsubscribe instructions at the bottom of each email.

Children

Shelterforce is not directed to children (persons under the age of 13), and we do not knowingly collect, either online or offline, personally identifiable information from children. If you believe that we have received information from a person under 13, please contact us by email at info@shelterforce.org or in writing at 125 Glenridge Avenue, #1547
Montclair, NJ 07042 and we will take appropriate action.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Shelterforce may change its privacy policy from time to time. If we make any changes regarding disclosure of personally identifiable information to third parties, we will post notice of the new policy on our home page.

Disclaimers and Limitations of Liability

ALTHOUGH WE TAKE REASONABLE STEPS TO PREVENT THE INTRODUCTION OF VIRUSES, WORMS, OR OTHER DESTRUCTIVE MATERIALS AND PROGRAMS TO OUR SITE, WE DO NOT GUARANTEE OR WARRANT THAT OUR SITE OR MATERIALS THAT MAY BE DOWNLOADED FROM OUR SITE ARE FREE FROM SUCH DESTRUCTIVE FEATURES. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR HARM ATTRIBUTABLE TO SUCH FEATURES. WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, LOSS OR INJURY BASED ON ERRORS, OMISSIONS, INTERRUPTIONS OR OTHER INACCURACIES IN OUR SITE, NOR FOR ANY CLAIM, LOSS OR INJURY THAT RESULTS FROM YOUR USE OF THIS SITE OR YOUR BREACH OF ANY PROVISION OF THIS AGREEMENT.

Questions

If you have any questions regarding our Privacy Policy or our use of your information, please email info@shelterforce.org.