Privacy, consent & data handling

The public website

You do not need an account to read this site, search it, or download the public data. At this time VFC does not intentionally run advertising trackers or analytics scripts on the public site, and it does not use personal information for behavioral advertising.

The site is hosted through GitHub Pages. Like other web hosts, the hosting service may process ordinary technical request information needed to deliver and secure the site. VFC does not use that technical data to build advertising profiles.

When you contact VFC or use the intake form

What you may choose to provide

• Contact information you choose to give us.
• Your state and general foreclosure, eviction, mortgage-servicing, or displacement stage.
• How you want your household counted or contacted.
• Text, links, or documents you voluntarily send after deciding they are necessary.
• Your consent choices about whether any de-identified or public information may be used.

The intake form is hosted by Google Forms and project email is handled through Gmail. Information submitted through those services is also processed by Google under its own privacy terms.

What not to send through the intake form or a first email

• Loan numbers, court case numbers, or agency file numbers.
• Social Security numbers, bank or card numbers, passwords, or account credentials.
• Medical records, diagnoses, medication lists, or other detailed health records.
• Precise health-service location information.
• Names, photos, school information, or other identifying details about a minor child.

If a document is genuinely necessary to the project record, contact us first so we can agree on the minimum necessary material and a safer way to handle it.

How information is used and what may be published

Private information may be used to answer you, connect you with relevant resources, maintain a de-identified cohort count, verify a public claim, or follow up on a request you made. VFC does not sell family information, rent contact lists, or provide a list of affected households to agencies, reporters, servicers, funders, or advertisers.

Nothing about a household is published without that household's specific consent to the specific information being published. Public examples use only the minimum detail needed and follow the consent choices described on Be Counted and Share Safely.

Documents you send are treated as private and are not published without your specific consent. If you want us to stop using or retaining something you shared, contact us and we will review and act on the request across the project systems we control.

Your choices

You can ask what personal information VFC has about you, correct it, change your visibility or consent choice, stop future contact, or ask us to stop using or retaining material you previously shared. You do not have to explain why.

Email veteransforeclosurecrisis@gmail.com with the subject Privacy. We can act on systems and material the project controls; we cannot remove information already published independently by another person, news organization, government body, court, or other third party.

Retention

VFC does not promise a fixed deletion schedule for every copy or backup. If you want us to stop using or retaining something you shared, contact us and we will review and act on the request across the project systems we control. We cannot promise deletion from systems or publications outside VFC control.

Health information

VFC does not need medical records, diagnoses, medication lists, or precise health-service location information for the public intake described on this site. Please do not send that material through the intake form or an initial email.

If VFC later creates a process that intentionally collects consumer health data, that process will be reviewed for applicable privacy and consent requirements before the collection begins, and the required notice will be published before asking families for that information.

External services and links

Links to Google Forms, Gmail, Linktree, Substack, GoFundMe, Facebook, news organizations, government sites, and other outside services leave the VFC website. Those services have their own privacy and security practices. A link from VFC is not a promise about another service's data handling.

Children

Do not submit identifying information about a minor child. The public record does not name or show minor children from affected households.