Displaced residents of Bronx apartment building searching for housing after fire
FORDHAM, Bronx (WABC) -- Dozens of families in the Bronx have been left with few options for housing after being displaced by a fire at their apartment building last week.
After several days at a hotel, residents at the apartment building on Valentine Avenue and East 181st Street in the Fordham section now have to move to a shelter, but they say the conditions at those shelters are not good.
The residents are awaiting answers, not only about why the fire started, but also, where should they go now that they can't go home.
The home of a mother and her three children was destroyed in the fire last week. They were able to safely escape the flames, but say they are now so traumatized, they have trouble sleeping.
That mother told Eyewitness News that she has no idea where she and her kids will sleep.
"They don't know where we're going to go. We don't have nobody here right now to go," she said.
The fire displaced more than 20 families. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, and the Red Cross did provide temporary emergency relocation assistance, but that assistance time is now up.
Some residents say they have been offered shelters by the city, but the quality of the shelters is poor.
"It's not what it should be. And these families need better shelter than that," said Emergency Rights advocate Awilda Cordero. "And they're also arguing the point that the migrants are coming in, they're getting everything they want. And these are the people that live here."
New York City's Department of Buildings says 33 units were deemed unsafe due to fire damage, which included holes in the roof and walls, and that the vacate order will remain in effect until the owner repairs the damage.
Eyewitness News reached out to the landlord, who declined to comment.
Some residents just don't know what to do.
"I don't care. I take the train, whatever. But my kids, my father-in-law. You have a city; you have a council. They have to do something, please," said displaced resident Marlon Duron.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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