Privacy Policy — Rehome Roots

Last updated: October 2026

Rehome Roots (ABN 77 233 697 655) is committed to protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles.

1. What we collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with us.

If you contact us or donate

Name, email address, phone number
Any message or enquiry you send
Donation details, processed by our payment provider — we do not store card numbers

If you apply for housing

Housing applications require detailed information so we can properly assess need and sustainability. This includes:

Contact details, date of birth and current address
Your housing situation and the circumstances of your need
Income, employment and household details, and what you can afford to repay
Residential history, including any evictions or broken leases, and referees
Housing preferences, including location and household size

Sensitive information. Our housing application asks whether you identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and whether you or anyone in your household has a disability. Under the Privacy Act this is sensitive information. We collect it only to assess need fairly and to connect applicants with appropriate support, we collect it only with your consent, and you may decline to answer. Declining will not disqualify your application.

If you offer to host land

Your name and contact details
The address and characteristics of the site you are offering
Available services at the site

2. Why we collect it

To assess housing applications and match people with available homes
To assess whether a site is suitable for a placement
To administer rent-to-buy agreements and land host arrangements
To issue donation receipts and meet our tax and reporting obligations
To respond to your enquiry
To meet our reporting obligations to the ACNC and other regulators

We will not use your information for a purpose you would not reasonably expect, and we do not sell personal information to anyone.

3. Who we share it with

We disclose personal information only where it is necessary, and we tell you when we do.

Important — land hosts see shortlisted applicants. In our land host program, the landowner holds final approval over who lives on their property. If you are shortlisted for a home on host land, relevant parts of your application will be shared with that landowner so they can make that decision. We will tell you before this happens, and you can ask us not to put you forward for a particular site.

We may also share information with:

Service providers who help us operate — our customer relationship system, payment processor and email provider
Referees you nominate, where you have given consent
Background checking services, where you have consented as part of an application
Professional advisers, including our accountant and lawyers
Government agencies or regulators where required by law

4. Storage and security

Your information is stored in secure, access-controlled systems. Some of our providers store data on servers located outside Australia; where that is the case we take reasonable steps to ensure they handle your information consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

We take reasonable steps to protect information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. No system is perfectly secure, and we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner if an eligible data breach occurs.

5. How long we keep it

We keep applications for as long as necessary to administer our program and meet legal and reporting obligations. If your application is unsuccessful, we keep it so we can consider you for future placements unless you ask us to remove it.

6. Access, correction and withdrawal

You can ask us at any time to:

Tell you what personal information we hold about you
Give you a copy of it
Correct anything that is wrong or out of date
Delete your information, or withdraw your application
Stop contacting you

Email support@rehomeroots.org and we will respond within a reasonable time. We will not charge you for making a request.

7. Marketing and consent

If you opt in to updates, we will send you news about our work. Every message includes an unsubscribe link, and you can opt out at any time. If you give consent to receive SMS, you can stop by replying STOP.

8. Website

Our website does not require you to identify yourself to browse it. Our enquiry and application forms are hosted by a third-party provider and submit directly into our customer relationship system.

9. Complaints

If you believe we have mishandled your personal information, contact us first at support@rehomeroots.org. We take complaints seriously and will investigate and respond.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

Concerns about us as a registered charity can also be raised with the ACNC.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always on this page, with the date it was last updated at the top.

11. Contact

Rehome Roots
ABN 77 233 697 655
PO Box 693, Mullumbimby NSW 2482
0411 683 556
support@rehomeroots.org