HONOLULU -- Japanese real estate mogul Genshiro Kawamoto on Monday showed the media four of the Kahala houses he said he will rent to low-income, Native Hawaiian families.

Kawamoto's homes feature marble floors, granite countertops, brass faucets, bathtub Jacuzzis and thousands of square feet in living space for $150 a month.

Kawamoto said he feels a need to help.

"Because the affluent people can help the least fortunate people," Kawamoto said through an interpreter.

Kawamoto said he received 3,000 letters from people saying they were part of low-income, Native Hawaiian families. He said he picked the families from homeless shelters according to the children they have. A family of 10 or more will stay in one of the larger houses, he said.

"Forty, 50 children will be living in this area. Then I would like to watch them grow, and I'm looking forward to their future," Kawamoto said.

Kawamoto said he filled in the swimming pools and tore down walls around the properties to make the homes more natural.

He was asked if he was concerned that the families might damage the multimillion dollar properties.

"I don't care. It's OK," he said.

Kawamoto said he has chosen the first four families that he wants to realize a dream of living on Kahala Avenue. They are scheduled to get a first look at their new homes on Thursday and move in on Sunday.

Some Kahala Residents Unhappy About Rentals

Some residents who live along Kahala Avenue are skeptical about the new renters and are not happy with their millionaire landlord.

Not many of the residents wanted to complain on the record about having poor Native Hawaiian families move in next door.

Many of the homes along Kahala Avenue are vacant because the owners live in other states and countries. Even if the homes are occupied, they are often closed off by gates, fences, walls and secured doors.

One woman who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 40 years is cautiously optimistic about her neighbors to be.

"I feel much more comfortable if the homes around me are occupied, and who knows what the new neighbors will be like," she said.

Others who would not appear on camera do not like the idea.

"I'm concerned -- the noise they make, the mess they make," another neighbor said.

Some of the concerned residents are worried that Kawamoto, who's long been accused of not maintaining his rental properties, has ruined more of them by covering pools and tearing out walls.

"He doesn't look after anything," a resident said.

Some residents said that using multimillion-dollar homes to house a few poor and formerly homeless families is not efficient.

"He could take his money and build homes in another area that would accommodate a lot more people and then they would have some commonality," a resident said.

John Elliott has run Kahala Pool and Spa for 30 years. He helped renovate and maintain some of the pools that have been covered over.

"I believe that a person that owns a piece of property should be able to do certain things that he wants to do. If he wants to fill his pool up, that's fine with me," Elliott said.

Other neighbors who did not want to be interviewed on camera said they are worried about how the homes will be kept up by people paying such low rent.

Some also worry that the high-priced properties in the area will lose value.

An oceanfront property across the street from one of the rental homes is a five-bedroom, five and a half bath home with a pool and cabana on the market for $11.9 million. The price has already been reduced by $1 million since it first hit the market in January. The realtor who is selling that complex said he did not want to talk about the situation, fearing it would simply generate more publicity.