YONKERS, NY (December 28, 2021) – The Municipal Housing Authority for the City of Yonkers is working to help 11 families who were displaced Christmas night after a fire destroyed their apartment building.
The four-story building at 81 Elliot Avenue was engulfed in flames just after 11 p.m. on December 25. Luckily, the tenants were able to escape although 13 firefighters received minor injuries battling the blaze.
Wilson Kimball, MHACY’s President and CEO, said that the housing authority has already contacted many of the families to offer assistance in finding permanent homes. She added that she has been working with Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano’s office of constituent services as well as Yonkers Council Members Corazon Pineda Isaac and Lakisha Collins Bellamy who have been coordinating assistance for the families. Kimball said she has also been in touch with the office of Congressman Jamaal Bowman.
“Our heart goes out to anyone who loses everything in a fire, let alone on Christmas,’’ she said. “It is uplifting to see our city officials and the community rally around them, offering food, diapers and other necessities. We at MHACY want to try to get these families back into permanent housing and urge those who we have not already reached to contact us.’’
Marcie Ciuffetelli, Leased Housing Director for MHACY, said that the housing authority has already begun working to guide some of the Elliot Avenue residents through the application process for permanent housing. Eligible residents could be offered housing units in existing market rate MHACY housing or may be offered a housing voucher through the Section 8 federal housing subsidy program which provides subsidies to landlords of non-MHACY buildings.