A Kingston fire put 10 people out of a home — five of them children — while leaving serious questions about living conditions for asylum seekers.

The fire department said it was a minor electrical fire at a four-unit building on Franklin Street.

Owner Luis Nieves said a space heater left running when no one was home started the fire in one of the three units he rents out.

Nieves has a limit of four people per unit, but he's seen up to 10 people in one apartment on later check-ins, many of them asylum seekers from northern Guatemala.

Local volunteer groups are overwhelmed working to help dozens of families from the same area with housing. Nieves says he's overwhelmed, too.

"An example, I rent to four people. Then you notice later, it's not four people. It's seven, eight people,” Nieves said. “I have to be dealing with these high water bills. A lot of damage in the apartments.”

Nievez said this is not the only property he rents that is currently facing with capacity problems.