Miami and St. Petersburg Community Groups Highlight Housing Displacement and Human Rights in New Report to the United Nations 

April 9, 2024

FLORIDA—A newly released report to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing by four community-based organizations in Miami and St. Petersburg  details the housing injustices faced by Floridians in a time of increased displacement spurred by speculative development and climate change.

Family Action Network Movement, Miami Workers Center, Faith in Florida, and Community Justice Project in the release of this report adopt an international human rights framework to address the rampant displacement facing our neighbors in Miami-Dade and the Tampa Bay area.

The report notes, “in 2024, evictions and redevelopment are the primary legal and policy tools utilized to displace Black and brown low-income tenants for rapid development. A lack of resettlement policies and a prohibition on local laws to protect renters empowers landowners to displace renters, small businesses, and mobile home owners. These actions violate various international law standards such as the right to not be arbitrarily deprived of property and the right to adequate housing…In Florida, Black, immigrant, low-income communities are most at risk of experiencing displacement, requiring resettlement, and being vulnerable to negative resettlement outcomes. Within this group,  women, children, and elders are at heightened risk.”

Narratives from Miami-Dade’s Little Haiti and Hialeah neighborhoods as well as the historic Black Gas Plant neighborhood in St. Petersburg in the report draw a direct through line between the multi-layered histories of housing displacement facing Floridians—from immigrant populations to native-born Black communities. 

Miami Workers Center is a community organization that builds power with working-class tenants, workers, women, and families in Miami-Dade County. 

The Family Action Network Movement (FANM) is a membership-based non-profit organization that empowers low-income immigrants living in Miami-Dade County by providing wrap-around social services. 

Faith in Florida is a multicultural, nonpartisan network of congregation community organizations in Florida addressing systemic racial and economic issues that cause poverty for families. 

Community Justice Project is movement lawyering practice supporting grassroots groups organizing for racial justice and human rights in Florida.