The Legal Aid Society’s Housing Justice Unit-Group Advocacy, filed a lawsuit on behalf of 12 rent-stabilized tenants in the Bronx, seven of whom have been displaced to City shelters after a fire ravaged their building located at 2490 Davidson Avenue in September 2022.

The fire caused severe damage to individual apartments and the common areas of the building and resulted in City agencies issuing vacate orders. The complaint seeks immediate repairs to the building – which has a total of 260 housing code violations from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development – so tenants can safely return to their homes.  

Many of the families who attempted to flee the building during the September 2022 fire were trapped inside the burning building by the non-functioning emergency door, which had been cited as a violation due to the door having an illegal lock. As a result, most tenants suffered some degree of smoke inhalation, and one tenant reported that it took “10 men” to open the door, including firefighters. This harrowing experience, made worse by the landlords’ gross negligence, further traumatized the families. 

“I have a daughter who is two years old. Being displaced from our home at 2490 Davidson has been difficult for us,” said Any Hernandez, one of the displaced residents. “We cannot cook properly in the shelter and, because of the rules on visitors, I cannot have my older 11 year-old daughter visit us like she used to, and my younger daughter misses her dearly.”

“The owners of 2490 Davidson have not given us any information on when we can return to our home, and I just feel that they don’t care about us,” she continued.

“The landlords’ failure to make repairs at 2490 Davidson Ave. has not only impacted our clients’ quality of life, but literally put their lives at risk and caused irreparable emotional harm,” said Jason Hadley, an attorney with The Legal Aid Society. “We now seek a court order to force the landlords to expedite needed repairs, allowing them to return back to their homes, and demonstrate to the court that they are capable of properly maintaining the building going forward.”

This litigation is funded by the citywide Anti-Harassment Tenant Protection (AHTP) Program, which has served over 75,000 New York City tenants. AHTP is a crucial program that protects thousands of low-income tenants, largely from communities of color, across the City against landlord harassment, discrimination, and displacement.