Protecting Your Privacy

Your Privacy Matters

Your privacy matters to us. Our field interviewers are sworn to protect your identity and any information you share, including to your neighbors, landlord, or anyone seeking information about you or your family members. The project has been reviewed by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of Michigan to ensure the NYCHVS is conducted ethically. We have also obtained a Certificate of Confidentiality from the National Institutes of Health that means that we cannot be forced to disclose any research information that may identify you, even under a court subpoena.

How Data Are Used

We interview thousands of New Yorkers to represent the full diversity of the city. Your responses are combined with others so that no individual can ever be identified. We never share information about anyone’s identity or situation with any other government agency or outside organization.

NYCHVS data are used to understand housing challenges across the city, improve housing policies, and track how neighborhoods are changing. Findings from the NYCHVS are used by community groups, researchers, journalists, planners, and elected officials.