Turning Up the Heat on Landlords

Photo Credit: Jon Tyson (Unsplash)

On Sunday, January 9, a defective space heater started a deadly fire in an apartment building in the Bronx. New York City's officials said that more than 60 people were injured and 17 were killed, including children. The building had been popular with new immigrants from The Gambia, in West Africa. Ambassador Dawda Docka Fadera, the Gambian ambassador to the U.S., expressed sorrow and shock on behalf of the Gambian diaspora in the U.S. and Gambians abroad, saying, "It's so sad that this horrific and tragic incident took so many lives, and left many people fighting for their lives."

Turning up the heat on landlords. Space heaters are often cited as a fire hazard. New Hampshire's Fire Marshal Sean Toomey told MNUR that in his state, "we saw on an average, just about 660 fires a year attributed to heating equipment." His team attributes those fires to space heaters being placed too close to cloth materials, like bed linens, carpets, and drapes, and being plugged into extension cords instead of grounded outlets. While keeping a space heater at a safe distance from flammable materials seems simple, it can be extraordinarily difficult to follow this rule in freezing temperatures within buildings with inadequate heat.

Fighting landlords is challenging in NYC.
In October, Ronda Kaysen with the New York Times Ask Real Estate column addressed this issue for New York City residents. If a landlord does not obey a court order to address their tenants' heating concerns, in accordance with city mandates, they can be fined and held in contempt of court. However, as David E. Frazer, a lawyer who represents tenants, adds in the column, “A motion for contempt, however, is highly technical and can be difficult to successfully prosecute.” Because it is difficult to prosecute derelict landlords, tenants are left to either suffer through frigid winters or use dangerous measures, like space heaters, to stay warm. As New York City's newly-minted mayor Eric Adams repeatedly champions the message for individual tenants to "close the [fire] door" to prevent the rapid spread of fires, he might want to consider opening a door to conversations about fire prevention at the building management level.

The call for global solutions.
With support from the United Nations, this month, more than 80 fire safety organizations launched the "Decade of Action for Fire Safety 2022-2032" to achieve a global "approach to the safety and management of buildings and infrastructure." This campaign will add to the existing "International Fire Safety Standard – Common Principles (IFSS-CP)," which were first published in October 2020 by the International Fire Safety Standards Coalition (IFSS). By 2032, global fire safety organizations aim to have clear actions to reduce fire hazards involving common household appliances and building structures, while further strengthening the "firefighting infrastructure" around the world.

Know your state's fire safety policies. Kidde, one of the largest manufacturers of fire safety products, maintains a list of fire policies in the United States. Many states require smoke alarms or at minimum mandate their use in specific settings. Some states also require carbon monoxide alarms. Do you know what your landlord is legally mandated to provide? If you are a landlord, do you know what is required of you? Does your state have weak policies compared to other states? Time to advocate within your city or state legislature for stronger measures! Check out the Kidde website to learn more.

Know someone in NYC? Share this website for tenants. New York City is an exceptionally difficult market for anyone trying to track down landlords and force building owners to comply with city and state policies. That's where JustFix comes in. They believe that "housing is a human right" and their organization uses technology to "[equip] tenants and the housing justice movement with the tools, information, and organizing power critical to this fight for racial and economic justice." They have designed free tools to help tenants research property owners, fight evictions, and demand necessary repairs.

Help the victims of the Bronx fire. Time Out New York offers six ways to directly help survivors and families of the Bronx fire. In addition to several donation options, you can send an inspiring note to "Love Letter to New York City." Your message will be written on postcards and included with bags of donations.