The Black Hive @ M4BL calls for immediate and urgent action in the following areas:

1. Immediate Response: Every Floridian has a right to food, utilities, and safe housing.

1A. FEMA must provide water, food, and medical attention to communities in need in an equitable manner, in accordance with its 2021 equity policy, and including language access.

1B. Utility companies must offer utility shut-off moratoriums until affected areas have achieved full post-hurricane recovery. Duke, TECO, and Florida Power & Light must equitably provide return-to-power services to communities in need.

2. Protect Renters: Every Floridian deserves the right to return to safe, resilient, and affordable housing in their own neighborhoods. Environmental racism in low-income communities of color needs to stop—and we have the resources at our disposal to stop it. Federal aid from the American Rescue Plan and Inflation Reduction Act must be deployed to yield life-changing results for our state’s Black and brown people.

Grassroots organizations have warned for months that housing insecurity is a ticking time bomb that has been ignored by Governor DeSantis and the state legislature. This storm is hitting right as October rent payments are due. Many families have had no choice but to spend rent money on storm preparedness and recovery costs.

2A. The Governor must institute an immediate 90-day eviction moratorium and rent freeze for tenants and small businesses to give our communities time to return and rebuild.

2B. Local jurisdictions should prohibit evictions during states of emergency for tenants of public housing and other rental properties subsidized by public dollars.

2C. County Sheriffs should pause all eviction enforcement activities, including service of process and enforcement of writs, until the state of emergency ends.

2D. Local jurisdictions should work toward the housing insecurity that renters face every day and exacerbate the impact of storms along the lines of race.

2Di. Local jurisdictions should create emergency rental assistance programs to help residents replenish what rent funds they were forced to use to prepare for the storm so that they are not evicted for their inability to pay their rent.

2Dii. All emergency rental assistance programs must be available to all affected by the hurricane, regardless of their immigration status

2Diii. Work towards establishing landlord registries to support landlords in adhering to local safety ordinances and improving resilience through weatherization, and holding those who don’t comply accountable.

2Div. Address rental discrimination for vulnerable populations such as returning citizens, LGBTQ tenants, and undocumented immigrants, so they have shelter, safety, and support during and after a disaster.

2E. Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature should ensure the timely distribution of every dollar, credit, and incentive available for federal emergency rental assistance with minimal administrative burden to tenants.

2Ei. Addressing post-disaster housing issues at the source requires investing in clean, affordable, renewable energy; weatherization for our homes; and our state government to make a big shift away from reliance on fossil fuels.

2Eii. As government officials design programs and allocate funding to rebuilding and infrastructure projects, space must be created to listen to and act on the needs of those of us who disproportionately bear the brunt of the fallout from Hurricane Ian.

3. Protect Workers: Every Floridian deserves the right to provide for their family.

3A. Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature should ensure that no person loses their job because they had to evacuate, care for elders or children, or secure their homes during the storm and its aftermath.

3B. Workers should be granted paid emergency leave and time off for missing a reasonable amount of work, so they can stabilize their livelihoods and families.

4. Right to Stay: A climate-crisis emergency is not a time to target immigrant and undocumented communities. There should be a moratorium on all deportations and detentions.

4A. Many immigrant families, including many with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), fear asking for help despite their extreme need, which places their lives in danger. Recovery efforts should not discriminate based on immigration status, and undocumented immigrants must be able to seek services without fear of deportation.

4B. We need community IDs in every county in Florida. Undocumented immigrants, children in foster care, transgender individuals, and returning citizens have significant barriers to obtaining Florida IDs. This is why local solutions such as community IDs could stop the barriers that prevent our communities from gaining access to resources and safety during times of emergency. That being said, during emergencies, IDs to access shelters or services are a hindrance to undocumented and vulnerable communities. People should be able to access emergency services and shelters without IDs.

5. Right to Healing: The state government must provide culturally relevant mental-health support and resources to communities recovering from hurricane impacts over the long term.

5A. As our Black Climate Mandate lays out, we are committed to care and repair after a climate-crisis event. A long-term focus on psychosocial support that takes post-traumatic stress into account is an important determinant of individual and community health . This provision should be a part of long-term climate action plans that include Black and Black Diaspora community traditions and cultural norms.