Terms of Use

This tool was developed to provide people with information about communities and properties that can be used to expand and preserve affordable housing in Allegheny County. This document describes the terms of use that are designed to minimize the ability for actors in the housing market to use this data to act in a malicious or predatory fashion, and work counter to the mission of the Preservation Working Group

People affiliated with the following types of organizations will receive access to the data tool upon request, unless a conflict of interest exists between a person’s other affiliations and the intent of the Preservation Working Group.

Housing and community development-focused nonprofit organizations
Local, state, and federal government agencies and authorities
Philanthropic organizations/Charitable

People at the following types of organizations may request access to the tool from the Preservation Working Group. The Group may choose to grant access without extra conditions, place additional limitations on users from these organizations, or deny the request for access.

Media organizations
Students
Researchers
Mission-aligned developers
Financial institutions

Permitted Uses

You are free and encouraged to use the data to:

Expand and preserve affordable housing
Improve community and resident well-being
Enhance your understanding of community dynamics

As long as you:

Register for access in good faith, accurately representing your organizational status, eligibility, and intended use.
Do not transfer your rights or credentials to use the tool to anyone else. Please encourage others to contact us for access.
Do not share the tool’s bulk data, or large extracts of the data with others.
Use special care when sharing reports or other extracts from the tool or database with non-registered users so as not to work counter to the mission of the Preservation Working Group. This may include redacting data related to subsidy expiration or inspection scores.
Do not violate any of the security mechanisms established to prevent unauthorized users from accessing this tool.
Remain employed or part of the organization that was listed in your initial application.
Please let us know if you’ve moved to a new organization, even if you’ll be eligible to access the data in your new home or position.
Provide attribution to the Preservation Working Group, Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center, Carnegie Mellon Create Lab, and Preservation Working Group when using data and other information from the tool in reports, visualizations, stories, research, etc. We suggest you use the following language:
This tool was created by the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center at the University of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Mellon CREATE Lab in partnership with the Preservation Working Group. Data used in the tool comes from a variety of sources, including HUD and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.
Consult Neighborhood Allies if you are in doubt about a prospective usage of the tool’s data.

Termination

Users that fail to comply with the terms of use will have their rights to use the tool and access the data terminated.

Disclaimer

The University of Pittsburgh, the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County (partners in the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center (WPRDC)), Neighborhood Allies and other members of the Preservation Working Group, and the Carnegie Mellon CREATE Lab hereby disclaim all implied and express warranties of any kind with regard to data made available through this tool or the WPRDC, and accessed by the user through the tool or WPRDC, including, but not limited to, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any particular purpose specific purpose. The University of Pittsburgh does not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the data made available through the WPRDC. User hereby acknowledges and accepts the above disclaimers and uses all of the data in the tool and WPRDC at its own risk and on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

Indemnification

User agrees to indemnify, release, and hold harmless the University of Pittsburgh, the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County - partners in the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center (WPRDC), members of the Preservation Working Group, and the Carnegie Mellon CREATE Lab to include its elected officials, officers, appointees, employees and agents, from any and all liability for claims arising out of my access to and/or use of data made available through the tool or the WPRDC.