When Maria Iroma and her family moved to Daly City in 2002, rent for their two-bedroom apartment was $1,250. But as the city just south of San Francisco becomes increasingly desirable to tech workers, her rent has spiked to $3,600, and her salary as a patient care assistant in a San Francisco hospital has not kept up.
As she’s watched her coworkers move across the Bay Bridge to more affordable cities such as Concord and Hercules, Iroma is determined to stay because of how much Daly City makes her feel like she’s back in the Philippines.
With its ample Filipino grocers and restaurants, Daly City is sometimes called the “Pinoy Capital” of the Bay Area and even the United States. For decades, the city of about 100,000 has been home to the highest concentration of Filipinos of any American city…