37 tenants displaced after a fatal fire killed two people in a New York Chinatown apartment building remain out of their homes 6 months later.
NY! reports leaders held a news conference Tuesday expressing their disappointment.
“We’re now in October and the situation continues to prolong and be a lot worse than it needs to be,” tenant Anela Chan said. “We’ve all been displaced since then, with just a total question mark of when we’re going to return to the building and when repairs will be made.”
Chan says she’s had to spend $5,000 on alternative housing and that her insurance company is no longer paying for additional expenses.
Manhattan Councilmember Christopher Marte joined the tenants in calling for the city and the landlord “to expedite the process and make sure that this building is safe for tenants to return back to their home.”
Fire investigators determined a day after the fire that the fire was accidental, blaming an extension cord. They also said all smoke alarms were working.
A 91-year-old mother and her 52-year-old son both died in the blaze.
A Go Fund Me campaign organized by the non-profit, Think Chinatown, to benefit the tenants has raised $61,000.
A spokesperson for Eighty Mulberry Realty Corp told NY1 that the city has just issued work permits and that the work should be completed on the lower floors within two months and on the upper floors by February.
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