Privacy policy

What Smart Step collects, why we collect it, and what we do with it — in plain language.

Who we are

Smart Step Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit recovery housing operator, EIN 33-1822772, online at smartstepcorp.org. Smart Step provides housing and peer support. It is not a medical provider and does not provide medical care.

Written questions about privacy can go to {{PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL}} or {{MAILING ADDRESS}}.

What we collect

We only collect what a form actually asks for. Here is every public form on this site and what it sends us.

Housing application

Your first and last name, an email address or a phone number (at least one, so we can reply), the county you are hoping for, when you could move in, who referred you, and anything you choose to write in the message box.

Referral from an organization

The same details about the person being referred, the referring organization and contact, plus the name written on that person's signed release, the date the referral was submitted, and which version of the release wording was in use. See our confidentiality notice.

Donation

Your name (optional), your email address, the amount, and whether the gift repeats monthly. Card numbers are entered on our payment processor's own checkout page and are not sent to or stored on Smart Step systems — we keep a reference to the checkout session, not the card.

Property owner or investor enquiry

Your name, email, phone if you give one, the property address and number of bedrooms if you are offering a property, and your message.

If you live in a Smart Step recovery residence

Residents have records that go beyond a web form. Depending on the program and the house, these can include:

Identity and contact details, date of birth, and an emergency contact
Which house and bed you are in, and your move-in and move-out dates
Curfew, chore and class check-ins
Drug screening schedules and results
Incident and house standards reports
Program fee payments and their status
House standards and agreement acknowledgements

Records about a person's recovery are handled under a separate, stricter set of practices described in our confidentiality notice. Read that page alongside this one.

Accounts and site use

If you sign in — as a resident, a staff member, or a court coordinator — we store your name, your role, your contact details, and a session cookie that keeps you signed in. If you turn on notifications in the mobile app, we store the device token needed to deliver them.

This site does not run advertising trackers or third-party analytics. The only cookies it sets are the ones that sign you in and keep you signed in.

Why we collect it

To reply to your application, referral, enquiry or donation
To decide on housing applications and place people in a suitable recovery residence
To run the program day to day — check-ins, screenings, house standards, program fees
To coordinate with a court or supervision program when, and only when, there is a signed release covering it
To meet reporting obligations to funders and regulators
To keep records of who accessed sensitive information, and when

Who we share it with

Smart Step does not sell personal information and does not use it for advertising. Information is shared in three situations:

Service providers who run the platform on our behalf — our hosting and database provider and our payment processor. They handle the data to provide the service to us, under their agreements with us.
Court and supervision partners, only where there is an active, dated, written consent on file covering that person and that partner. Every one of those views is recorded in our access log.
Where the law requires it, or where there is a serious and immediate risk to someone's safety.

The specific circumstances in which we may be required to share information without consent are being reviewed with counsel: {{MANDATORY DISCLOSURE LIST}}.

How long we keep it

We keep records for as long as we need them to run the program, meet funder and regulatory reporting obligations, and keep an accurate history of decisions. Our retention schedule is {{RETENTION SCHEDULE}}.

How we protect it

Access is limited by role: staff see only what their role needs, and access to resident records is enforced by the database itself rather than only by what the screen hides. Access to court-related resident information is logged. Payments are handled by a specialist processor so card numbers never reach our systems.

No system is risk-free, and we do not claim otherwise. If you believe your information has been exposed, write to {{PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL}} and we will look into it.

Your choices

Ask for a copy of the information we hold about you
Ask us to correct something that is wrong
Ask us to delete information, where we are not required to keep it
Withdraw a consent you gave, in writing — see the confidentiality notice
Ask a question about anything on this page

Write to {{PRIVACY CONTACT EMAIL}} or {{MAILING ADDRESS}}. Our target for a first response is {{RESPONSE TIME}}.

Young people

Smart Step recovery residences and the forms on this site are intended for adults. Our policy on applications involving anyone under {{MINIMUM AGE}} is {{MINOR APPLICANT POLICY}}.

Common questions

Will applying put me in a public list?

No. Applications are visible only to the Smart Step staff who review them.

Does my referring organization see what I write in the message box?

No. What you submit through the application form goes to Smart Step staff. Referring organizations see the referrals they submitted, not your later correspondence with us.

Do you share information with my court or probation officer?

Only where there is an active, dated, written consent covering that person and that office. Without one, they see nothing.

Can I ask you to delete my application?

You can ask. Write to us and we will tell you what we are able to remove and what we have to keep.

Changes to this page

We update this page when our practice changes. Effective date: {{EFFECTIVE DATE}}.

This is a plain-language summary of how Smart Step handles information, written so it can be read quickly. Smart Step reviews it periodically. It is not legal advice.