As Officials Blame Tenants After 17 Die in Bronx Fire, Activists Say Greed & Neglect Are to Blame

A massive fire in an apartment building in the Bronx, New York, killed 17 people, including eight children, on Sunday. The city is blaming the fire on a malfunctioning space heater. Housing advocates say the real issue is the lack of safe, affordable public housing, citing lack of heat provided by the building during subzero winter temperatures and poor fire safety systems. Tenants and activists note one of the building's co-owners is a member of Mayor Eric Adams's transition team, and are demanding an extension to the eviction moratorium set to expire on January 15. All of them are really asking for accountability, not just from the state and city agencies but first and foremost from their landlord and the building owners," says reporter Claudia Irizarry Aponte, who covers the Bronx for the nonprofit newsroom The City.