With fatal fires at a 2-decade high, NYC Council eyes ways to help victims

The New York City Council is considering ways to help fire survivors in the days and months after a blaze, as the city grapples with the deadly threat of combustible e-bike batteries and its highest number of fire fatalities in decades.

“The process after is really confusing for tenants about what their rights are and how quickly they can get back into their homes,” said Whitney Hu, director of civic engagement and policy at the nonprofit Churches United for Fair Housing. “We see them on TikTok, , ‘What do I do?’” Part of the impetus for the legislation comes from the experience of Gutiérrez’s chief of staff, Anna Bessendorf, whose Brooklyn apartment was heavily damaged in a fire in 2022.

“But even I was really thrown for a loop with this,” she said. “I didn’t have any understanding of what happens next when you’re displaced from a fire.” Other legislation in the package proposed by Gutiérrez and fellow Democrat Shekar Krishnan, which is also supported by Republican Joann Ariola, would:

Dispatch tenant relocation specialists to assist residents after vacate orders are issued due to fire-related damage.

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