It's now been six months since the massive fire at the apartments at 2910 Wallace Ave. left hundreds of people displaced.

Those who lived in the building are not not giving up hope to return to their home. A group of residents held a rally on Thursday near their former apartment building. They were joined by community leaders during demanding action from the city for repairs. 

Elva Gonzalez spoke at the rally. She said a few weeks ago, she was able to briefly go into her apartment for the first time since the fire. The cell phone video Gonzalez shared with CBS News New York shows the devastation left behind in her now moldy basement level apartment.

Gonzalez said she is thankful she was able to salvage some jewlery, money, and documents. 

"The city should stop re-victimizing the tenants"

 "Too many communities have suffered in silence, but not this one. You picked the wrong building and the wrong family," shouted a former tenant named Kelly.  

"We have a simple message. The city should stop re-victimizing the victims and start holding the landlords accountable," Rep. Ritchie Torres said. 

The Legal Aid Society Bronx Office is helping to represent the displaced tenants in housing court, hoping to speed up the process for repairs to the building.

"We are asking the judge to issue an order in order to correct, which is in order requiring a landlord to make enumerated repairs by a certain date. So we're actually in court [Friday] on this. We're asking the judge to issue this order," said Sam Kohn, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society. "That gets the clock ticking. And once the time expires, you can go back to court and ask the judge to impose civil penalties if the landlord fails to meet the timeline."

On Thursday, CBS News New York spoke to Ved Parkash, the  landlord of the building via phone. He said the insurance company still hasn't signed off on the work needed at the site.

CBS News New York also reached out to Mayor Eric Adams' office about the issue. The office referred our inquiry to the NYC Department of Buildings.

"Landlords in New York City are legally responsible for keeping their buildings in a safe and code compliant condition at all times, and to perform emergency repairs to their buildings when needed. Following a fire at 2910 Wallace Ave in January 2025 that rendered the building unsafe to occupy, the Department of Buildings issued a Vacate Order at the property in the interest of public safety. The building owner has since filed permits with the Department of Buildings to begin emergency repair work at the location, and DOB will continue to monitor the status of this work," a DOB spokesperson said. 

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