Tenants and Owners Development Corporation (TODCO)

Multiple reports have found that since the early 2000s, TODCO has stopped developing housing projects and that the residences it operates are unsafe and in disrepair. During this same period, TODCO reportedly decreased its spending on resident services while increasing salaries for executives and political advocacy expenditures. ^{3 4}

History and Activities

The Tenants and Owners Development Corporation is a low-income housing development nonprofit in San Francisco, California, that owns and operates apartment buildings in the city’s South of Market neighborhood and advocates “diversity and social justice.” ^{5 2}

The organization that became TODCO was founded in 1964 by residents of the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco as Tenants and Owners in Opposition to Redevelopment (TOOR) to protest the city’s plan to demolish the neighborhood and build a convention center. In 1971, the group formally incorporated as TODCO, an entity that would help build replacement housing for those who had their residences taken down by the Yerba Buena Redevelopment Project. TODCO successfully won a court-ordered development of replacement housing in the Yerba Buena Center in 1973. Phase 1 of construction was completed in 1979. ¹

In the following years, TODCO claimed to have joined with the City of San Francisco and other organizations to open new housing sites, purchase old residences in need of renovation, and redevelop structures as affordable housing units. ¹

TODCO has also participated in advocacy efforts in support of a large number of San Francisco ballot measures, including a 2014 measure to require 50 percent of future city housing to be affordable, a 2016 proposition to increase “inclusionary housing requirements,” a 2018 proposition to increase the business tax to fund homeless services, and a 2020 proposition to increase taxes to fund affordable housing projects. ⁶

According to its tax filings, TODCO is the direct controlling entity of two for-profit companies: Yerba Buena Consortium LLC and A4ECA LLC, a low-income housing provider, as well as three 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, TODCOYBC 3, TODCOYBC 4, and TODCOYBC. ⁵

Controversy

In 2024, a report in American Affairs alleged that the Tenants and Owners Development Corporation had failed to develop or properly upkeep its property, leading to unsafe and unsanitary conditions. According to the report, TODCO had not developed a property in 20 years. At the same time, its spending on resident services declined from 62 percent of spending in 2012 to 45 percent of spending in 2020. Residents complained that TODCO housing units were infested with rodents and roaches and were unsafe and that management could not be reached to rectify problems. While TODCO reduced spending on resident services, the report claimed that executive pay quadrupled and the amount TODCO spent on lobbying legislative bodies increased 95 times from $50,000 to $470,000. ³

The report also alleged that TODCO had lobbied and filed lawsuits to prevent the construction of affordable housing units. ³

Another report from the San Francisco Standard found that from 2013 to 2023, TODCO’s revenue doubled while the share of revenue it provided to low-income, elderly, and disabled residents decreased. Meanwhile, the report found that TODCO “splurged on political spending, lobbying, staff salaries and grants to other groups.” ⁴

Leadership

According to tax filings, as of 2023, the president of the Tenants and Owners Development Corporation was John Elberling and the chief executive officer was Anna Yee. ⁵

Elberling has been criticized for receiving a free apartment in a federally subsidized senior-living residential building operated by TODCO. The report estimated that the apartment had an annual value of $38,400. Additionally, the report found that because the apartment building is federally subsidized, tenants must qualify for Section 8 subsidies and prospective tenants can not apply if they make more than $97,600 a year. According to tax filings, Elberling was paid $287,682 in 2023. ^{4 5}

Financials

According to tax filings, in 2023, the Tenants and Owners Development Corporation reported $6,655,249 in revenue, $7,713,540 in expenses, and $42,681,244 in assets. Of its expenses, TODCO spent $2,242,978 on a residential service program to provide meals and recreation events to residents of its housing projects, $581,832 to operate 30 housing units it owns, $291,591 to operate a photography workshop, $763,210 to provide services to low-income residents, and $53,624 to operate and maintain the Alice Street community Garden in San Francisco. Of its income, TODCO received $644,171 (10.4 percent of its income) from government grants. ⁵

In 2023, TODCO also distributed the following grants to local San Francisco organizations: $15,600 to the San Francisco Study Center Inc., $150,000 to the Filipino-American Development Foundation, $10,000 to the San Francisco Progressive Media Center, $100,000 to the East Bay Alliance for Sustainable Economy, $129,150 to the Precita Eyes Mural Association, $150,000 to West Bay Filipino Multi Services, $18,108 to Knox Partners LP (which is operated by TODCOYBC3, a 501(c)(3) directly controlled by TODCO), and $43,800 to Bayanihan Partners. ⁵