Privacy
Policy.

Toronto Housing Society (TOHS) is a community-run housing support organization. This policy explains, in plain language, what information we collect through our website and tools, why we collect it, who can see it, and how you can ask us to remove or correct it. We are a Canadian organization and follow the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

What we collect

• Housing posts and related listing information shared through TOHS communities or future direct posting tools.
• Voluntarily supplied contact or address information when someone provides it to TOHS.
• Website usage data through analytics configured for aggregate usage understanding.
• Public tool, recruitment, support, or contact interactions submitted through TOHS forms.

What we do not make public

TOHS does not publicly display raw Facebook post text, full names, Facebook profile links or aliases, full street addresses, phone numbers, emails, internal moderation notes, incident records, join passphrases, or other protected operational information.

Public search, filter, and open-data tools only draw from public-safe views deliberately built to exclude protected information.

Volunteer confidentiality and data protection

To safeguard vulnerable housing seekers and community members who reach out to TOHS in stressful or sensitive situations, all volunteers, moderators, and contributors with access to non-public systems, intake submissions, or community incident reports are required to sign and adhere to the binding TOHS Volunteer & Contributor Confidentiality and Safety Agreement.

Under this agreement, contributors are held to strict obligations of confidentiality, need-to-know access, device security, and trauma-informed crisis handling. Volunteers are strictly prohibited from sharing or disclosing community member reports or personal details with any third parties or public members, even if a report directly concerns that individual. Confidentiality obligations survive indefinitely beyond a contributor's active term.

Why we collect information

TOHS collects housing post information to help connect people looking for housing with people offering it within a moderated, community-trust-based system. General location information is collected because it is relevant to housing search, not to track individuals.

Analytics are used to understand aggregate tool usage and improve the platform.

How long we keep information

Retention depends on the type of record and the purpose for collecting it. Some operational records may be retained for community safety, moderation history, or audit purposes. Recruitment expressions of interest that do not progress are deleted or anonymized after 12 months.

Your rights

You can contact TOHS to ask what information we have about you, ask us to correct inaccurate information, or ask us to remove information associated with your own post or submission.

Contact: happyhunting@tohs.ca

What removal means

When TOHS can remove or redact raw post or submission information, we will do so after confirming the request belongs to the right person. Some non-identifying summary records or moderation/audit records may remain where needed for safety, integrity, or legal reasons.

Cookies and analytics

TOHS uses minimal cookies needed for the site to function, plus Google Analytics (GA4) to understand aggregate usage patterns. GA4 is configured with IP anonymization, and it never receives your name, post content, or contact information. We do not run advertising or cross-site tracking pixels.

The first time you visit, a notice explains this and links back to this page. Dismissing it stores a single flag in your browser's local storage so the notice stays hidden — that flag is never sent to us. This follows the implied-consent model PIPEDA allows for non-sensitive analytics. If we ever adopt practices that require express opt-in consent, we will build that control and update this section before turning them on.

Changes to this policy

TOHS will post the date of the most recent update and update this policy when our tools, data practices, or public publishing model change.