How the deadly Bronx fire exposes layers of America’s affordable housing crisis

Advocates demand permanent solutions as pandemic assistance and eviction moratoriums come to an end, Alex Woodward reports

Volunteers with the Wall of Hope Foundation build a memorial wall for the victims of New York City's deadliest fire 30 years (AP)

On 9 January, smoke from a fire that started with a malfunctioning portable electric heater killed 17 people, including eight children, in a high-rise apartment building in New York City’s Bronx borough.

Days earlier, a fire inside a Philadelphia rowhouse operated by the city’s housing authority killed 12 people, including eight children.

The fires – among the deadliest in modern US history – have underscored neglect in the country’s low-income housing units, typically magnified only in the wake of tragedies.