Terms of use

What Fair Shot Housing is

Fair Shot Housing is an independent website that collects affordable-housing listings from official sources and puts them in one place. You can:

• browse listings, waitlists and apply-direct buildings without an account;
• run a quick check of which listings you may qualify for (your answers stay in your browser);
• create a free account, save a household profile, save listings, and keep track of applications you made yourself.

You always apply yourself, on each program's own website or office. Applications are between you and the program.

We are not a government agency

Fair Shot Housing is not part of any government and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting for any housing program, housing authority, landlord, developer or agency, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Each program makes its own decisions about who qualifies, who is chosen and who gets a home.

Listing information can be wrong or out of date

We take listing details from official pages, flyers and feeds. Programs change rules, prices, income limits and dates, and they can close a listing early. We work to keep the site current, but we can't promise that any listing is accurate, complete, still open or still available.

Always check the program's own page, and confirm with the program, before you apply or make a decision. Don't wait for the last day.

Our "you may qualify" results are estimates based on the answers you give and the income limits we have on file. They are not an offer, a decision or advice. We can't guarantee that you are eligible, that you will be chosen, or that you will get housing.

Some programs charge a fee for an application or a credit check, and a listing shows it when the program says so. A program should not charge you just to enter a lottery or join a waitlist. If someone who is not the program asks you to pay for a spot, be careful and contact the program directly.

Fair housing

Fair Shot Housing does not discriminate. We show listings to everyone, whatever their race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, disability or any other characteristic protected by law. Some programs lawfully reserve homes for groups such as seniors, veterans or people with disabilities. We show those rules so you can see which homes fit.

The Fair Housing Act protects you when you look for housing. If you think a housing provider or program discriminated against you, you can file a complaint with HUD at hud.gov/fairhousing/fileacomplaint or by phone at 1-800-669-9777. A complaint generally must be filed within one year of the last act of discrimination. Your state or city may have its own fair housing agency too.

Your account

• Who can use accounts. You must be at least 18 years old, or the age of majority where you live if that is higher. Housing applications are for adults. Please don't create an account or send us information if you are under 18.
• Signing in. You sign in with a link we email you, or with Google. We hold no passwords. Keep your email account and your Google account secure. You are responsible for what happens under your sign-in.
• Accurate information. Give us true and complete information. Housing programs can reject or cancel an application that has false information. You send every application yourself, so you are the one who tells the program the facts about your household.
• Other people's information. If you add people from your household to your profile, you confirm that you are allowed to share their details for this purpose.
• One application per household. Most programs allow one application per household for each listing. Applying more than once can get every application from your household thrown out.

You can delete your account at any time from your profile page (see "Ending your account" below).

Your information

You keep ownership of the information you give us. You allow Fair Shot Housing to store and use it to run the service for you: to show you matches, keep your saved listings and tracker, and answer your messages. We explain this in the privacy policy, which is part of these terms. We don't sell your personal information.

Acceptable use

Please don't:

• use someone else's information or account without permission;
• submit false, misleading or duplicate applications to any program;
• try to break, overload, probe or get around the security of the site, or access data that isn't yours;
• scrape, copy in bulk or republish our listings or other content, or use bots or other automated tools to access the site, except as the next paragraph allows;
• use the site to harass anyone, to send spam, or to break the law;
• pretend to be a program, an agency or us.

Search engines and other crawlers that follow the rules in our robots.txt file and keep to reasonable request rates are welcome. Ordinary use of the site by a person, with a normal browser, is always fine.

We may limit, suspend or end access for anyone who breaks these rules or puts the site or other people at risk.

Other websites and services

Listings link to official program pages and other websites. We don't control them and aren't responsible for them. Their own terms and privacy policies apply. The site also uses outside services, such as Google sign-in and maps. The privacy policy lists them.

Our content and other people's content

The site, its design, text, software and the way the listings are organized belong to WMI Ventures LLC or its licensors, and the law protects them. You may use the site for your own housing search, and you may link to it. You may not copy or reuse it beyond that without our written permission.

Listing facts come from public sources, and some documents belong to those sources. We credit the source and link to it. Names and logos of programs belong to their owners.

Listing photos. Photos on listings belong to their owners, such as the program, the developer, the property manager or the photographer. We don't claim them. To make them load reliably, we keep copies on our own servers and show them on the listing with a credit to the source ("Photo: source"). Showing a photo does not give you any right to copy or reuse it.

Removal on request. If you own a photo, text or other material on the site and want it removed, or you believe something infringes your copyright, tell us through the contact form (choose "Photo removal") or by email at legal@fairshothousing.com. Include the web address of the listing, say which photo or material it is, say that you own it or act for the owner, and tell us how to reach you. We remove it promptly once we confirm the claim, and in most cases we remove a photo simply because the owner asks.

Ending your account

You can stop using the site at any time. To delete your account, use the "Delete account" button on your profile page. It removes your account and the information described in the privacy policy, and it can't be undone.

We may suspend or close an account, or limit features, if you break these terms, if we must by law, or if your use puts the site or others at risk. If we close your account for another reason, we will tell you. We may also change or stop parts of the service. Features marked "Coming soon" are not part of the service until they launch.

No warranties

Fair Shot Housing is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent the law allows, we make no promises, express or implied, about the site, including that it will be accurate, complete, uninterrupted, secure or error-free, or that it is fit for a particular purpose. We do not promise that any listing is open, that you qualify, or that you will receive housing.

Some states don't allow certain exclusions, so part of this section may not apply to you.

Limits on our responsibility

To the fullest extent the law allows, WMI Ventures LLC and the people who work for it are not responsible for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for lost opportunities, lost housing or lost income, that come from your use of the site, from a listing that is wrong or out of date, or from a decision a program makes. Our total responsibility to you for any claim about the site is limited to 100 U.S. dollars, or the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim if that is more. The site is free today.

This section does not limit responsibility that the law does not let us limit, including responsibility for fraud, gross negligence or willful misconduct, or any rights you have under consumer protection laws that can't be waived by contract.

If your use causes a claim

If someone brings a claim against WMI Ventures LLC because you broke these terms or the law, or because of false information you knowingly gave, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of dealing with that claim, to the extent the law allows. We will tell you about the claim and let you take part in it. This does not apply to ordinary good-faith use of the site.

Disagreements

If you have a problem, please tell us first through the contact form or by email at legal@fairshothousing.com. Most issues can be settled by talking. If we can't settle it within 60 days, either of us may take it to court as described below.

These terms do not require arbitration and do not waive your right to join a class action or to a jury. You may also bring a claim in small claims court in the county where you live if it qualifies.

Which law applies

These terms and any dispute about the site are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Except for small claims cases, disputes will be brought in the state and federal courts located in New York, and you and WMI Ventures LLC agree that those courts may hear them. Federal law applies where it must. This does not take away protections that the consumer laws of the state where you live give you and that can't be waived by contract.

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. The date at the top shows the current version. For a change that matters, we will tell you at least 14 days before it takes effect, by email to your account address or by a notice on the site, unless the law or a security problem requires faster action. If you keep using the site after a change takes effect, you accept it. If you don't agree, delete your account and stop using the site.

The rest

• Whole agreement. These terms and the privacy policy are the whole agreement between you and us about the site.
• If part is invalid. If a court finds a part of these terms unenforceable, the rest stays in effect.
• No waiver. If we don't enforce a term right away, we haven't given it up.
• Transfer. You can't transfer your account or these terms to someone else. We may transfer them as part of a sale or reorganization of the business, and we will tell you if that happens.
• Notices. We may give you notice by email to the address on your account or on the site.

Contact

Fair Shot Housing is run by WMI Ventures LLC. Questions about these terms, or a legal notice? Reach us through the contact form or by email at legal@fairshothousing.com.