Lower income people are suffering from cold winter times. Landlords are not providing humane living conditions, such as proper heating. These people are led to use deadly heating sources, ignoring the fatalities that could happen. 

The law should be more strict toward landlords who are in violation for not providing heating. There should be more human preservation and development inspectors to make sure that throughout the cold season there is heat and hot water available. Also, we need inspectors to follow up on 311 complaints faster, or if it’s the case that HPD should hired more inspectors.

Recently, the fire that happened in the Bronx has been one of the most outrageous. Sadly, as of now there has been confirmed 17 deaths, including 8 children. A space heater was the cause of the fire as per investigators, but as many of us see it, the landlord has responsibility for this sad event.

In my personal experience, I can relate to this issue, since my mother works as a home attendant, and where she works there’s no heating. She told me that the elderly who she takes care of like to use the stove as a heating source, ignoring how dangerous it could be for them. 

Us as residents of New York deserve good heating conditions during these cold days, for our elderly, disabled, children and families.  We should come together to make a change.