Transform Yakima Together on Wednesday hosted the ribbon cutting for the first two tiny homes in the county to be built on church property and intended to house homeless families.

"We believe we have the heart and the pastors to embrace these people and be with them in their struggle and support them and build them up on their way to leading a successful life," said Andy Ferguson , faith-based Transform Yakima's executive director. "By distributing homelessness throughout the community on church properties, we feel like we can make a big impact on homelessness over the next year or two."

The idea came from a group of local pastors who in summer of 2016 were trying to determine what they could do to end homelessness.

"As this group of pastors was gathering to talk about homelessness and what we could do, the idea surfaced -- 'What if we put tiny homes on church property?' It was just like a light bulb going off," Ferguson said.

The pastors first thought they could buy sheds, insulate them and then move families into them. But several months of meetings and drawings showed it would be a much larger and more expensive task.

The tiny homes they settled on are 10-by-20-foot, fully insulated structures with a mini-kitchen and full bathroom and use electricity. Terrace Heights Assembly , the test site for the first two homes, also provided a "living room" area for the homes' residents in addition to an extra freezer and laundry facilities.

The homes' construction was funded by part of a $75,000 grant from the Yakima Valley Conference of Governments , the organization in charge of distributing homeless funding. Private donations also helped cover construction.

Ferguson said the YVCOG grant was specifically for capital construction, meaning none of it can pay for the homes' operations. The organization will be allowed to use "case worker" hours from Camp Hope , the group's semipermanent homeless shelter funded by a different YVCOG grant. But the rest of operations will have to be funded by the church or by private donations to Transform Yakima.

While the group continues raising funds, a committee will select the first two families to occupy the homes over a two-year residency limit.

Together with Camp Hope , which has been open since last summer and currently operates on city land behind the former Kmart on East Nob Hill Boulevard , the homes will help provide a place for homeless Yakima families working to get back on their feet and into permanent housing.

Even though the homes officially opened Wednesday, it will be several weeks before residents move in. Ferguson said he anticipates seeing a woman and one or two children move into each home.

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