diff --git a/privaterelay/settings.py b/privaterelay/settings.py
index 75b6e9be4a..9c872ab560 100644
--- a/privaterelay/settings.py
+++ b/privaterelay/settings.py
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@
 # Dead-Letter Queue (DLQ) for SNS push subscription
 AWS_SQS_QUEUE_URL = config("AWS_SQS_QUEUE_URL", None)
 
-RELAY_FROM_ADDRESS: str | None = config("RELAY_FROM_ADDRESS", None)
+RELAY_FROM_ADDRESS: str = config("RELAY_FROM_ADDRESS", "")
 GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_ID = config("GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_ID", None)
 GA4_MEASUREMENT_ID = config("GA4_MEASUREMENT_ID", None)
 GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS: str = config("GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS", "")
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9c25efa2f8..3630b00ca4 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -58,6 +58,6 @@ mypy-boto3-s3==1.35.45
 mypy-boto3-ses==1.35.3
 mypy-boto3-sns==1.35.0
 mypy-boto3-sqs==1.35.0
-mypy==1.11.2
+mypy==1.12.1
 types-pyOpenSSL==24.1.0.20240722
 types-requests==2.32.0.20241016