Shopping center owner General Growth Properties announced a three-year partnership with Habitat for Humanity in Hawai'i to raise awareness, money and volunteer labor toward combating homelessness statewide.

The company, which owns Ala Moana Center and several other local malls, aims to raise $500,000 this year through events that will also invite employees and customers to help build homes for needy families.

At Ala Moana Center on May 25, General Growth employees will build a two-story house frame in the mall's parking lot, then transport the frame and complete the house in Leeward O'ahu for a family.

Also next month, Ala Moana and other General Growth malls — Ward Centers and Windward Mall on O'ahu, Queen Ka'ahumanu Center and Whalers Village on Maui, and Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo — will host a fund-raising campaign.

The campaign will feature a house frame in each mall with thousands of stickers representing families with substandard housing conditions in the area served by the mall. Mallgoers who make a donation to Habitat can help a family and remove a sticker.

Other events are planned for later to benefit Habitat, which helps low-income families build affordable homes.

Kathi Hasegawa, executive director of Hawaii Habitat for Humanity, said General Growth's effort will put a roof over the heads of potentially dozens of families.

"We hope GGP's leadership will inspire the rest of our community to join us in our effort to address this critical issue," she said.

Sharon James, General Growth regional vice president of marketing, encouraged employees and customers to join the company's effort to provide housing for more local families. "A safe and affordable home is something no family in Hawai'i should be without," she said.