The Bayanihan Ground Breaking event scheduled for September…

As South of Market Neighborhood Builders, the Mission of the TODCO group is much more than the development of affordable housing.  For some time, the Delta Hotel prominently stood fire-ravaged and vacant at the South of Market neighborhood's most distressed intersection – Sixth and Mission Streets – a focus of urban and human deprivation. Yet until the tragic fire of August 1987, the Delta Hotel was the most prominent residential asset of our neighborhood’s longtime and vital Filipino-American immigrant community. It was the home and social center of the Central City's elderly Filipino Veterans of World War II, who have resolutely sought equity and justice in the United States for 55 years. Both physically and morally, then, the Delta Hotel was at the heart of the community, and at the center of its better future.

To respond to this pivotal moment, TODCO collaboratively joined with the Filipino-American Development Foundation and the Veterans Equity Center to undertake the renewal and rebirth of the Delta Hotel as "Bayanihan House." The mutual effort honors of the fundamental values of the Filipino people for community sharing, mutual assistance and mutual caring, and further extend that benefit to the diverse population of our Sixth Street community.

Thus when it opened early in 2003, in fulfillment of the Mission of the TODCO Group, the Bayanihan House has ...

"… met basic needs for housing, nutrition and economic security, ending deprivation" by offering 152 furnished SRO hotel rooms with kitchenettes and quality residential amenities for an affordable rent of $485 per month to residents of the Central City's slum hotels, especially the hard-pressed Filipino-American Veterans of World War II. When the anticipated Section 8 rent subsidies were secured later in 2003, rents for 38 of the rooms were reduced to only 30% of the tenants' household incomes. The rents for the remaining 114 non-assisted rooms are expected to be reduced to about $425 per month (the amount needed for break-even hotel operation).

"… live in safety with dignity, respect and equity, ending isolation and exploitation" by providing residents with a range of supportive services, security protections, emergency response, and recreational amenities in a setting of quality and respectful property management.

"… productively share community to build social capital, institute wellness, expand common assets, and impact the future" with the integral development of the new storefront Bayanihan Community Center by the Filipino-American Development Foundation, including the Veterans Equity Center, as a long-sought anchor for the Filipino Community's Central City human services.

The outcome of this collective community-building effort is Bayanihan House's transformation of the neighborhood's most derelict corner into a community haven for Sixth Street and Central City residents, and a foundation for the future of the Central City's Filipino-American Community.