Yonkers fire leaves hundreds homeless, with little direction on how to move forward

Hundreds of homeless Yonkers tenants are still left with little direction after a massive fire condemned their building.

News 12 Staff

Jan 8, 2021, 10:53 PM

Updated 1,213 days ago

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Hundreds of homeless Yonkers tenants are still left with little direction after a massive fire condemned their building.
The four-alarm fire happened on Wednesday at Seven Pines Tower. 
Residents say management only gave them hours’ notice to pack up and leave. Otherwise, tenants would be given a $1,000 fine.
“Condemned? How do you condemn a building? At 5:30 you make a decision to condemn and we have until 8:00 to get our things out?” says Tina Jones. 
News is told the upper floors of the apartment building were condemned with no heat, light, water, or assurance that rent will be reimbursed. 
Jones says all she kept thinking about was her daughters' clothing due to the frigid January temperatures.
Some victims say they refuse to go to a shelter and risk getting COVID-19.
Jones says although she’s been making calls and writing notes, she doesn’t know where to go moving forward. For the time being, she will live with family in Connecticut until she can get a sense of where to go from there.
“Thank God we have family that has space, and they're like, 'Listen, you can come here, and you can come here for as long as you need to be,'” says Jones. “That's when I said that's the best option.”
Although Jones may be wary to return home, she finds solace in safety.
“We can replace the things, but we can’t replace each other,” says Jones.
News 12 has tried contacting building management, but calls have not been answered.
The city of Yonkers is providing relief through the Police Athletic League and the Red Cross for those without shelter.
Power is not expected to be restored for tenants occupying floors 10 through 27 until sometime next week. Residents who live on the lower floors will not have hot water or elevator service until this weekend.


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