There are always fears that a new homeless “kauhale” will lead to increased crime, but the opposite is true, according to the executive director of the nonprofit group leading the effort to build tiny-home communities to reduce homelessness.

Each neighborhood where a kauhale is planned always brings out “a tiny few” vocal critics claiming it will lead to a spike in vandalism and other crime, Kimo Carvalho, executive director of HomeAid Hawaii, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” live­stream program Monday.

“That’s absolutely not true,” Carvalho said. “It’s the opposite. It’s actually improved communities.”

HomeAid Hawaii represents the local chapter of Hawaii builders, contractors, designers and others in construction who donated materials, expertise and labor to build Hawaii’s first kauhale in Kalaeloa, followed by others, with plans for a dozen more across the islands.

HomeAid built Hawaii’s newest kauhale — Pulama Ola, which opened in May — and helped erect it in eight weeks through an executive order issued by Gov. Josh Green that avoided permitting that delayed other construction projects, Carvalho said.

“It is systemic, and it’s in every little step of the process,” Carvalho said.

Pulama Ola represents Hawaii’s first “medical respite” kauhale for homeless patients who are well enough to be released from a hospital but too medically fragile for life on the street and frequently end up homeless again along Punchbowl Street after being discharged from The Queen’s Medical Center.

HomeAid Hawaii built the 12 tiny-home Pulama Ola structures and helped erect them in between Queen’s and the governor’s mansion, Washington Place, and next to the state Health and Education departments.

Carvalho previously worked for the Institute for Human Services long before one of the country’s largest homeless encampments of more than 300 adults and children exploded around the Children’s Discovery Museum and University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kakaako in the summer of 2015 after the city imposed Hawaii’s first sit-lie ban, in Waikiki.

IHS remains involved in many of the homeless housing efforts that followed, beginning with Hale Mauliola on Sand Island, created out of refurbished shipping containers and a partnership among the city, state, nonprofit groups and businessman Duane Kurisu that created Kahauiki Village along the H-1 freeway for homeless families with children whose parents want to work.

Helping Hawaii’s homeless also is personal for Carvalho, he told “Spotlight Hawaii.”

His mother, who is schizophrenic, remains homeless in the Ala Moana area after 23 years.

“She’s the reason why I ended up in foster care,” Carvalho said.

After years of watching the state and county move the most chronically homeless people into “Housing First” fair-market rental units — or “scattered site” locations — Carvalho said Green’s kauhale concept works and makes more sense for people suffering “grief, loss and trauma.”

Despite ongoing funding to build more affordable housing across the islands, Carvalho said housing aimed at helping financially struggling residents has yet to “move the needle” to ease homelessness in Hawaii.

And instead of moving homeless people into isolated apartments, kauhale purposely create communities that “foster relationships” and where residents increasingly are invested in how things are run, such as getting involved in security, Carvalho said.

Community members also have a stake in providing input to decide what kind of kauhale fit their specific homeless needs, Carvalho said.

Green wants another 12 kauhale, including the next two: one in Hilo to house, detox and treat homeless people with substance abuse issues, and another on Middle Street near Sand Island to permanently house homeless people in the Middle Street area. All the kauhale are designed to include social services and security in a communal setting of tiny homes.

The search continues to find suitable public or private land across the state, depending on what each community wants to provide for its local homeless population.

Asked by “Spotlight Hawaii” whether there is profit to be made by private landowners who donate their land, Carvalho said, “There has not been one private landowner who looks at this as profit. … This is about them giving back.”

Kahauiki Village also provides a blueprint on how counties, the state, nonprofit groups and the private sector can work together to help get people out of homelessness, Carvalho said.

“I’ve always believed that the private sector should always invest in innovation and creative solutions,” he said. “We can’t just create all these kauhales and government is paying for everything.”