Still-displaced tenants rally two years after fire ravages apartment building

Two years ago, a fire left several Sunset Park tenants and their families displaced. Today, they are still waiting to return home.

News 12 Staff

Jan 30, 2020, 12:49 AM

Updated 1,640 days ago

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Two years ago, a fire left several Sunset Park tenants and their families displaced. Today, they are still waiting to return home.
On Wednesday, tenants rallied outside of housing court to demand repairs be made to their still-damaged living spaces. The families say the landlord signed an agreement to have the repairs done by August 2019, and are asking a judge to hold the landlord in contempt.
Zulma Cruz lived in her apartment at 529 56th St. in Sunset Park for nearly 4 decades -- until a fire in January 2018 left her, seven other tenants, and their families without a place to live.
Now, the families are living in temporary housing across the boroughs. Some live as far away as Staten Island as they wait to move back into their apartments.
"It's a financial setback, I can't have visitors, I don't see my family, everybody's spread out," Cruz says. "We don't fit in one bedroom; it's more commute to my job."
 


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