HomelessHelp.net
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Privacy policy

Last updated 2026-06-22.

HomelessHelp.net is built to be useful to people whose privacy is often violated (people experiencing homelessness, people fleeing violence, people in crisis). We collect as little information as possible. This page explains exactly what happens.

What we don't collect

  • We do not require accounts. There is nothing to sign up for.
  • We do not store your name, address, phone number, email, or any other personal identifier — unless you voluntarily type it into a form (see below).
  • We do not track you across the web. We do not sell or share user data with marketers or data brokers.
  • We do not accept donations or process payments. No payment data ever passes through this site.
  • We do not store your geolocation. The Find Help / Volunteer pages can use your browser's geolocation to rank nearby resources, but only after you explicitly grant permission, and the coordinates stay in your browser. We do not send them to our servers.

What we do collect

Submissions. If you use /submit to add or report a resource, the form fields you fill in are sent to our database for moderation. We also store a one-way hash of your IP address so we can stop abuse without retaining the actual IP. If you provide an email, we use it only to follow up about the specific submission (we do not subscribe you to anything).

Server logs. Our hosting provider (Vercel) keeps standard web-server access logs (URL requested, timestamp, anonymous fingerprint) for ~30 days for operational purposes. These are not connected to any personal identifier we hold.

Search queries. When you type a city or address into the location search, that text is sent to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service to turn it into latitude/longitude. We do not log the query on our side; OpenStreetMap's usage policy applies on theirs.

Third-party services

We use a small number of third parties, listed here so you know exactly what loads in your browser when you visit:

  • Vercel — hosting. Standard server logs. privacy policy ↗
  • OpenStreetMap — map tiles and geocoding. Loaded when you visit the map or location-search pages. privacy policy ↗
  • Supabase — database for crowdsourced submissions. Only used when you submit a resource. privacy policy ↗
  • Google AdSense — site advertising. When ads are active, Google may set cookies to deliver and measure ads. You can opt out (or in, depending on jurisdiction) using our cookie banner. We block sensitive ad categories including high-interest loans, gambling, alcohol, and weight-loss schemes. how Google uses ads data ↗
  • Google Translate — when you use a link from /languages, the translated page is served by Google, not us. Their privacy policy applies on that domain.

Cookies

The only first-party cookies we set are:

  • hh_consent — remembers whether you accepted or declined ad/analytics cookies. Set by the cookie banner. No personal data.
  • hh_admin — only set on the admin moderation panel for site maintainers. Not relevant to public visitors.

Third-party cookies (Google AdSense) load only after you accept the cookie banner or if you are in a jurisdiction where consent is not legally required and you have not explicitly opted out.

Your rights

  • Access / deletion. If you submitted a resource and want it deleted, or you have any other privacy request, email us via the contact method in /about.
  • Do Not Track. We honor browser DNT signals where they materially affect what we load.
  • EU / UK / California. We respect GDPR (EU/UK) and CCPA/CPRA (California) rights even though our primary audience is in the US and Canada. The cookie banner gives you a real choice. Ads are opted-out by default until you accept.

Children

The site is appropriate for general audiences, including youth experiencing homelessness. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. The youth-focused pages (Covenant House Nineline, Kids Help Phone, Trevor Project, etc.) are direct phone-number listings; we do not gate or track this content.

Changes

If we materially change this policy, we'll update the "last updated" date at the top. Material changes (new data collected, new third parties) will be announced on the homepage for at least one week.

Questions? See /about for how to contact us.