Privacy Policy
SPHA Housing Assistant · Effective August 28, 2026
Please do not type your Social Security number, date of birth, bank account, or payment card number into the chat. The assistant never needs them. If you do, we automatically remove Social Security and card numbers before anything is saved — but the safest thing is not to send them at all. To discuss anything involving those details, call SPHA at 727.323.3171.
The St. Petersburg Housing Authority (“SPHA”, “we”) operates an automated housing assistant on stpeteha.org. It answers questions about our programs using information published on our own website. This policy explains what the assistant collects, why, who else sees it, and how long we keep it.
What the assistant collects
When you chat
- The messages you type and the answers you receive. These may be stored so staff can see what visitors are asking and improve the answers.
- Technical information — your browser type and an abbreviated, scrambled form of your IP address. We use these to stop automated abuse and to count how many people use the assistant. We do not use them to identify you.
When you ask staff to contact you
If you use “Ask staff to contact me”, we collect the name, email address, phone number, and description of your request that you enter, along with the recent chat messages from that conversation so staff have context. You choose what to put in that form.
What we do not collect
- We do not ask for, and the assistant is instructed never to request, your Social Security number, date of birth, banking details, or passwords.
- Social Security numbers and payment card numbers are automatically stripped from anything you send before it is stored.
- We do not use advertising trackers, and we do not sell or rent your information to anyone.
Why we collect it
- To answer your question.
- To let SPHA staff follow up when you ask them to.
- To find questions the assistant answers badly, so we can fix them.
- To protect the service from abuse.
We do not use this information to make decisions about your housing application, your eligibility, or your tenancy. The assistant cannot see your application or your account, and nothing you type into it becomes part of your housing file unless a staff member acts on a contact request you submitted.
Who else processes your messages
To produce an answer, your message and relevant excerpts from stpeteha.org are sent to a third-party artificial intelligence provider that SPHA has selected. Depending on our current configuration, that provider may be Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, or Moonshot AI. They process the message to generate a reply and act as our service providers.
Our website, database, and staff sign-in are hosted by Supabase. Staff members sign in to the administrative area with Google; that sign-in covers SPHA staff only and is not used by members of the public.
We may also disclose information where required by law, in response to a lawful request from a public authority, or as required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. As a public agency, records we hold may be subject to Florida’s public records law.
How long we keep it
- Chat transcripts are kept for a limited period — currently 90 days — and then the message text is deleted. Anonymous counts, such as how many conversations happened on a given day, may be kept longer.
- Contact requests are kept as long as needed to respond to you and to meet our record-keeping obligations as a public agency.
Your choices
You are never required to use the assistant. Everything it can tell you is also available by phone, by email, or in person, and you can reach a person at any time:
St. Petersburg Housing Authority2001 Gandy Blvd. North, St. Petersburg, FL 33702
Phone: 727.323.3171 · TDD: 800.955.8770 · TTY: 800.955.8771
Monday–Thursday 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; Friday 8:00 a.m.–12:00 noon
To ask what we hold about you, to correct it, or to request deletion, contact us using the details above. We will respond as required by applicable law.
Children
The assistant is intended for adults seeking housing services. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13.
Accessibility and fair housing
SPHA is an Equal Housing Opportunity provider. We provide housing without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, physical or mental handicap, familial status, national origin, or other protected class. If you need this policy or any SPHA service in another format or language, contact us and we will accommodate you.
To file a housing discrimination complaint, write to the HUD Director, Office of Civil Rights, 451 7th Street S.W., Washington, D.C. 20410, or call (202) 708-1112 (voice) or (202) 708-1455 (TTY).
Changes to this policy
If we change what the assistant collects or who processes it, we will update this page and change the effective date above.