What you get for public housing in NYC

METRO

Relatives of Harlem fire victims plan to sue city for billions

Grief-stricken kin of the Harlem mom who died along with five of her children when fire tore through their death-trap public housing apartment last month plan to sue the city — for $2.2 billion.

“It’s hard to put a dollar value on the loss of human life, but the $2.2 billion, we feel, is appropriate in light of the current situation,” said lawyer Evan Oshan, who is representing a surviving daughter of late matriarch Andrea Pollidore.

The eye-popping sum is not arbitrary, the lawyer said — it is the same amount that Mayor Bill de Blasio committed to his embattled New York City Housing Authority in January to settle a federal probe into horrendous living conditions in buildings such as Pollidore’s.

“There needs to be a message sent because things aren’t getting better here,” Oshan said. “There’s been major, major neglect in that building.”

Pollidore, 45, her stepson Mac Abdularaulph, 33, and four more of her kids, ages 3 to 11 — daughters Nakyra and Brook-Lynn and sons Andre and Elijah — were found dead in bedrooms on opposite sides of their West 142nd Street apartment in the Fred Samuels Houses after a fire swept through it in the early hours of May 8.

The seven-story NYCHA building, which dates to 1910, had no sprinklers, and most of the family’s fifth-floor unit’s emergency exits were off the kitchen — which is where the blaze ignited from an unattended stove.

The fire marshal is still investigating the cause.

“They were trapped,” one of Pollidore’s surviving daughters, Raven Reyes, told The Post on Sunday outside the building, which she said she’s dutifully visited every day since the tragedy to pay her respects.

“Everything happened so fast. One minute, we were here in the morning laughing with her,” said Reyes, 26, the administrator of Pollidore’s estate. “Nighttime, she’s gone.”

Reyes quietly filed the wrongful-death claims May 14, less than a week after the deadly blaze. In addition to the $2.2 billion, Reyes is seeking $18 million for emotional damages. Meanwhile, Pollidore’s sister, Natelle Pollidore, wants compensation from her late sister’s estate to cover her $37,773 funeral, according to filings obtained by The Post.

The expenses included $2,850 for limousines, $10,200 for cemetery or crematory costs and $11,600 for programs, filings show.

The thing Pollidore’s family wants the most, however, is an explanation for how their family members died.

“We just want answers. That’s what we need,” said Hakeem Pollidore, 30, a surviving son.

“There are still a lot of red flags and questions we haven’t had answered yet.”

The notices of claim say the city and the New York City Housing Authority “failed to comply with proper designs and safety standards” and allowed “hazardous and unsafe conditions” at the building.

Under the city’s settlement with the federal government, it would funnel $2.2 billion to NYCHA over 10 years to fix rampant problems.

A spokesman for the city Law Department called the fatal fire “a tragic incident.

“The city will review the notice of claim,” he said.

Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks