Tenants of a dozen apartments are homeless in Washington County this week. Fire broke out at a transitional housing complex for people who’ve been homeless, in the town of Washington. The nonprofit Hawkeye Area Community Action Program serves low-income families in Benton, Linn, Iowa, Jones, Johnson and Washington Counties, including the building where alarms went off Monday night.

Sprinklers contained the fire damage to one apartment, but all the units had water damage, and nobody’s been able to go back home yet. All twelve apartments were occupied, and for now the families will stay in area hotels.  

Audio: Radio Iowa’s Stella Shaffer report. :29 MP3