A flatbed truck on Wednesday carried two more newly built 100-square-foot tiny homes to a new “kauhale” going up at Kalihi’s Cedar Church as the state, counties and a hui of builders and developers work together to create more communities for low-income and homeless people on Oahu by the end of the year, with two more planned for the Hilo and Kona sides of Hawaii island in 2025.

The kauhale — or “village” concept — also has been pressed into service to provide interim housing for survivors of the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires who, for various reasons, are not eligible for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including housing.

HomeAid Hawaii has helped provide 450 modular homes for the new Ka La‘i Ola community on Maui. They range in size from studio units to three bedrooms and come with bathrooms and kitchenettes.

At a dusty construction site in Mililani, crews from HomeAid Hawaii also have built 125 identical, 100-square-foot tiny homes and are working on 30 more for kauhale at Cedar Church, the old First Hawaiian Bank building in Iwilei, a second site in Iwilei, possibly another location on the leeward side and to expand the existing kauhale on Middle Street with the goal of welcoming new residents at all Oahu locations by the end of the year.

Statewide, “The goal is to have 12 kauhale” opened by the end of 2026, “but our hope is to go up to 20,” said Kimo Carvalho, HomeAid Hawaii’s executive director.

By using labor, materials and expertise from its members, HomeAid has lowered construction costs to $16,000 per unit in order to keep monthly rents at around $500 a month for a single occupant.

“We want to empower people to be more self sufficient,” Carvalho told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Wednesday.

Kauhale represent one piece of Gov. Josh Green’s overall approach to both reduce homelessness and provide affordable housing for people struggling financially.

In January, the annual homeless census found that Oahu’s homeless population jumped nearly 12% to 4,495 people — up from 4,028 in January 2023.

Even more troubling, the Point in Time Count showed a 19% increase in homeless families compared with January 2023, including 635 children.

Hawaii’s kauhale concept was inspired by a 2019 visit by then-Lt. Gov. Green to a tiny home community in Austin, Texas, that at the time housed over 200 homeless people on 51 acres.

The following year, Hawaii’s first kauhale of 100-square-foot homes opened in Kalaeloa on two acres of Hawaiian Housing Authority land next to the U.S. Vets homeless organization, which offered support to its new neighbors.

Seven kauhale are now running and the concept continues to morph, including the first “medical respite” that temporarily went up along Punchbowl Street between the governor’s mansion and the Queen’s Medical Center to treat homeless patients who were healthy enough to be discharged from hospitals but not well enough to safely recover on the street; and one near the State Hospital in Kaneohe focused on homeless people with mental health issues.

Discussions are underway for more — most of them on Oahu — but two key challenges remain: Finding government or affordable flatland with access to sewers, water, power and roads; and overcoming resistance from some community members who want more done to reduce homelessness but push back against kauhale in their neighborhoods.

Earlier this month, Green and Mayor Rick Blangiardi unveiled Oahu’s latest kauhale at a Kapiolani Boulevard high-rise called Waikiki Vista that was previously used by Tokai University and then for dorm-style housing for Hawaii Pacific University students.

Waikiki Vista now houses a mix of formerly homeless and low-income, working adults and their children who all live in studio apartments outfitted with in-suite showers and toilets.

In June, state Homeless Coordinator John Mizuno led a return trip to Austin’s Community First Village that included representatives from the state Department of Human Services, the non-profit Institute for Human Services that runs Hawaii’s largest homeless shelters, Maui Memorial Medical Center and others from Hawaii and Maui counties.

The model in Austin has now grown to more than 500 tiny homes that include housing for formerly homeless families, Mizuno told the Star-Advertiser.

He called it “a village and peer group of people with commonality who share the trauma of homelessness, pain, disrespect, loneliness, despair, addiction, mental conditions, rejection, discrimination, disdain, fear, the invisible … (who) say we have the right to build character, dignity and self-respect and housing is the foundation.”

On Wednesday, HomeAid crews continued to build tiny homes in Mililani and on Hawaii island for the original concept of creating new communities on vacant land.

Despite different architects, each home design continues to mirror the original, 100-square-foot blueprint used at the first kauhale in Kalaeloa because it represents the most cost-effective way to keep prices down, Carvalho said.

Each unit has been wired for electricity and comes equipped with ceiling fans.

Residents receive social service assistance and share a communal kitchen, communal men’s and women’s showers and toilets, and are encouraged to socialize as a community.

Not just for wildfire survivors, but across Oahu and the rest of the state, Carvalho said that the kauhale concept continues to address both homelessness and a lack of affordable housing.

“A lot of people are falling through the cracks,” he said.