Huddled in his spartan, one-bedroom Kukui Gardens apartment as a storm passed outside, Zhen Da Liang carefully unfolded his bank statement to explain his predicament.

He and his wife, Hee Ling Young, both 74, are retirees. Between them, they get just more than $900 in Social Security and supplemental security income each month. Rent is $284, after a government subsidy, and they need the rest to pay for electricity, telephone and other bills.

"If we don't have this, there's no place to live," Liang said in Cantonese.

The Liangs are among the estimated 2,500 residents of Kukui Gardens, a complex of two- and three-story concrete apartment buildings sandwiched between Chinatown and Mayor Wright Housing.

About 75 percent of the residents are of Chinese ancestry. Most are immigrants. Virtually all — despite assurances of the owners — are worried about the impending sale of the complex and the possibility that rents will increase beyond their means.

Board members of the Kukui Gardens Corp. are set to meet today to discuss the sale of the complex. The board of the corporation consists of representatives for the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation — which owns the property — Chaminade University of Honolulu, Saint Louis School and St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii.

Under terms set up in 1967 by Clarence T.C. Ching, who died in 1985, the corporation exists to manage the property. Proceeds from the sale of Kukui Gardens go to the nonprofit Ching Foundation.

Because the three Roman Catholic institutions have a say in the sale of Kukui Gardens and are the three named beneficiaries in the event the Ching Foundation either is dissolved or ceases to be a nonprofit, those who oppose the sale believe Chaminade, Saint Louis and St. Francis Healthcare have the most to gain from a sale.

Representatives from all three entities have referred questions to the foundation.

The aroma of jasmine rice and roasted chestnuts wafted through Mitsuko Uesugi's apartment as she peered out into the rain.

Uesugi, 76, lives alone in the same, three-bedroom apartment she's called home since Kukui Gardens was opened in 1970. "I neva' move no place," Uesugi said. "My mother was here, my husband was here, but they all die already."

Uesugi pays $800 a month for her unit. She receives about $740 in Social Security. An adult son who lives in Kailua with his family at his in-laws' makes up the difference and pays for other expenses. Moving in with them is unrealistic, especially since "my boy get three kids, too," she said.

"The rent come more high, I gotta hang my neck," she said, pinching herself under her chin.

Carol Anzai, president of the Kukui Gardens Community Association, said it is unlike any government-regulated housing project. "I call it our little town, really," said Anzai, who has lived in the complex the past 33 years.

"I can walk out any time of the day (and) I can walk into somebody I know. We're family," Anzai said.

Anzai and others in her group help go through the mail and fill out the documents for many of the immigrants. There are also free food distributions for the needy and holiday parties for the kids.

"You take care of your neighbors," she said. "I learned this from my parents way back."

Tammy Stancil, 42, lives in a two-bedroom unit with a 19-year-old son who has health conditions that prevent him from working.

Stancil, an information specialist for Oahu Transit Services, takes home about $1,400 a month. She pays $555 in rent but has substantial bills, partly as a result of her son's situation.

"Everything in my life is based around him," she said.

A cousin brings food every other week and helps pay some of the bills.

Going through the classified ads in the newspaper looking for rentals is "so depressing it makes me cry," Stancil said. "Maybe I can get a room in somebody else's house for what I pay over here."

Linda Yuk Lin Lee Marr, 71, is a widow who retired from her job as a school custodian last year. She gets about $910 in monthly Social Security benefits. She pays $555 in rent and also supports an adult son attending Kapi'olani Community College.

Marr noted that in the past, electricity and parking were included. Now, each month, she pays $60 for electricity and $40 for parking.

"That's why I'm so skinny," Marr said in Cantonese, a wry smile on her face.

Ching Foundation officials note that regardless of who owns Kukui Gardens, rents must be regulated through 2011 under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Cheryl Fukunaga, HUD project manager, said the foundation is obligated to keep rents under HUD control for 40 years under a mortgage insurance program that gave the foundation a low-interest loan.

The owners can apply for rent increases with HUD annually, she said, but must show they are warranted based on increased operating costs.

"At this point, we don't have anything that we can impose on a buyer after the 2011 period," Fukunaga said. "Even if they were to finance with us, the thing that would impose the restriction would have to be some kind of tax credits or bonds."

Fukunaga said the possible loss of 857 affordable units is a concern to HUD. "The best they can hope for is that an organization buys it that is committed to keeping it affordable whether through a financing mechanism or on its own," she said.

R. Stevens Gilley, a real estate consultant for the Kukui Gardens Corp., said three bidders are in the running to buy the complex, out of 17 initial offers.

Two of the top bids were thrown out, he said, "because they're developers and our goal is to see the project through to a company that has experience taking over HUD projects."

All three remaining entities, he said, "want the tenants to stay in the property and are not going to put the rent up so that the people can't stay there."

Anzai and other tenants are wary of the promise and want something written into the contract.

"Nobody's going to give them that," Gilley said, when asked about that possibility.

The residents are hoping to get some state help. Lawmakers, with the backing of Gov. Linda Lingle, are attempting to craft legislation that would allow the state to purchase Kukui Gardens, possibly through a condemnation action, and preserve it as affordable rentals.

Some supporters have suggested that the corporation will decide on a buyer tomorrow in an effort to pre-empt a move by the state.

Gilley refused to characterize the meeting as the time when a final decision will be made.

There are three finalists in the running, he said. "We're looking at paring down on Monday, but even after Monday, we'll still have three buyers. Any one of them could end up with it because there's going to be a due diligence period of 30 to 45 days."

Gilley said what's being lost in the discussion is that three worthy beneficiaries will likely benefit from the sale, likely sharing in more than $5 million annually from a return on investment of the proceeds.

Wallace S.J. Ching, a member of the Ching Foundation and the Kukui Gardens Corp., said his father would not be pleased with the sale of the complex.

"He was a humble and quiet person, he didn't want a lot of publicity," Wallace Ching said of his father. But for the man who developed the airport industrial area, Salt Lake and Moanalua Gardens, "he was most proud of Kukui Gardens."

Anzai, who said she met Clarence Ching several times, echoed Wallace Ching's comments.

"I think he built this with the intention of keeping it in low and moderate income for the people, and I think in his heart, if he was here today, he would want it to be the same."

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.