Six months after a five-alarm fire displaced over 250 residents at 2910 Wallace Ave., tenants rallied for the third time to demand housing support from the city and to pressure the landlord to speed up repairs.
About two dozen residents, activists and attorneys gathered on July 10 outside the Allerton building, which still has no roof, and no repair work seemed to be underway. Residents held signs saying, “We need timely repairs!” and “Our homes matter to us!”
Tenant leader Kelly Roland said that residents had reported electrical problems, such as flickering lights, before the fire, which the FDNY determined was caused by faulty wiring under the watch of notorious landlord Ved Parkash. Since the January blaze, at least one neighbor died amid the stress of not having a permanent home, she said.
Although tenants are now scattered throughout the city and even other states, they remain in solidarity as they bring legal action against their landlord and fight for housing support.
“Never defeated, united we stand,” said Roland.
Very few have been able to find permanent housing at a cost comparable to their Wallace Ave. homes, which were rent-stabilized.
For instance, tenant Anthony Randolph told the Bronx Times that his family recently helped him secure a place in East Harlem. He recently suffered a blood clot in his heart, which doctors said was likely exacerbated by living in a five-floor walkup city shelter. After that, his relatives pitched in to help him afford an apartment, which he called a temporary solution.
But Randolph’s rent for a one-bedroom is now $2,414 — much higher than the $1,600 he paid at Wallace Ave.
At the July 10 rally, a growing group of elected officials joined in support of the tenants, including U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, Assembly Members Emerita Torres and John Zaccaro, and representatives of Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Attorneys with the Legal Aid Society also attended and are now working with Wallace Ave. residents to bring what’s called an HP action in housing court against landlord Ved Parkash, meaning asking a judge to order him to make repairs.
In a June statement to the Bronx Times, Parkash’s office said building repairs “are progressing in accordance with all city permits and regulations.”
However, Legal Aid attorney Jason Hadley said he’s “getting almost no response” from Parkash in the early stages of the legal battle.
The landlord appears to be trying to slow down the case, and in the meantime, “Almost nothing has been done” to fix the building, he said. “Any advocacy we’re doing in court has just been met with opposition.”
At the rally, Torres pointed to Parkash’s history of building disasters. Three of his properties have caught fire in recent years, including one on East 242nd Street that killed two residents in 2023. Faulty electrical wiring was to blame in all three cases, according to the FDNY.
Given his record, “This man cannot be trusted to do the right thing,” said Torres.
He said the city has the power to force Parkash to make repairs and even transfer ownership of the building away from him.
“The authorities are there. What is lacking is political will from City Hall,” said Torres. “The city should stop revictimizing the victims and start holding the landlords accountable.”
Zaccaro agreed that Parkash has shown “little urgency” to make repairs and has offered no clear timeline for residents to return home.
“We’re here to say that that is unacceptable,” he said.
State lawmakers are working on legislation to help tenants forced out by disasters that were the owner’s fault.
State Sen. Michael Gianaris of Queens introduced a bill — inspired by a Dec. 2023 fire in Sunnyside where tenants are still displaced today — that would require property owners to provide suitable housing to any tenant forced to vacate due to an emergency.
If the owner is found negligent or responsible for the disaster, the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) would be authorized to find alternate housing for tenants, with the landlord responsible for covering the cost.
The bill passed the Senate but died in the Assembly, and Gianaris has said he may reintroduce it.
Until such a measure passes, Sen. Bailey said elected officials must use their platform to support displaced tenants.
“We will continue to advocate upon the city and upon this landlord to do the right thing: fix this damn building!” he said.
When residents were forced to flee in the middle of the night, they lost everything, including their ties to the Allerton community and the security of the homes where many had lived for decades, said Bailey.
“You cannot give that back, but at least you can put a habitable roof over these folks’ heads.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
