Local builders and developers aren’t content to just stand on the sidelines as the state grapples with homelessness. Rather, they are making an impact by donating labor and materials to repair facilities that help those struggling to get off the streets.

HomeAid Hawaii is an initiative that deserves recognition and should spur more private-sector involvement in our collective fight against homelessness.

The 17th local chapter of the national nonprofit HomeAid America, it began taking shape eight months ago and is partnering with the Building Industry Association of Hawaii.

Members of HomeAid Hawaii are taking on projects such as patching the roof at Kakaako’s Next Step shelter, upgrading Waikiki’s Youth Outreach drop-in center and refurbishing a Kalihi home for medically fragile clients.

With three projects already on tap, HomeAid Hawaii’s board is already thinking ahead: exploring how it could help the state’s public housing system, which has dozens of vacant units in disrepair.

The businesses involved in HomeAid Hawaii recognize that government alone can’t chip away at the homeless crisis. So tradespeople are rolling up their sleeves to help restore shelters and drop-in centers — work that’s desperately needed — at dramatically reduced costs.

Local chapters provide assistance only to qualified nonprofits, said executive director Nani Medeiros, but HomeAid Hawaii’s board recognizes that the local homeless situation is unique.

Because of that, board members are looking into ways the organization could possibly address the shortage of public housing units.

The Hawaii Public Housing Authority has a nonprofit arm that HomeAid Hawaii could work with, or perhaps a cluster of Section 8 units could be earmarked for the homeless and managed by a nonprofit, Medeiros said.

“It’s on the radar.”

Although that public-housing initiative is only in the exploratory stage, it should be encouraged to increase affordable housing stock, which is sorely needed on Oahu.

For now, HomeAid Hawaii is making repairs that would have cost the Institute for Human Services $100,000 to overhaul “Tutu Bert’s” home in Kalihi for medically fragile homeless clients with nowhere to go.

Three HomeAid Hawaii board members representing Stanford Carr Development, Castle &Cooke and A&B Properties have volunteered to serve as building captains on the project and essentially eliminated the $100,000 price tag through donated work and materials from numerous companies.

It’s all about leveraging expertise to help address the homeless crisis in Honolulu, which has the highest rate of homeless people per capita in the nation.

By June, the Tutu Bert’s project and those at Youth Outreach and Next Step are expected to be completed — a testament to the private sector’s ability to get projects done quickly and efficiently.

“Our model is something other industries can do,” Medeiros said.

Let’s hope that HomeAid Hawaii’s first steps to help reduce homelessness will motivate others in the private sector to contribute in some way — big or small, but with significant community purpose.