The Popes

The Popes

DeLonzo, Taryn, Kiomi
and Colette Pope

One Church Street Apartments
San Francisco, California

After graduating from San Francisco’s Galileo High School, DeLonzo Pope took a job as a security guard. Over the next 10 years he worked his way up, becoming a supervisor, taking on more responsibility and earning better pay. He married his high school sweetheart, Kiomi, and they started a family. Yet despite DeLonzo’s steady job, he felt he was falling behind.

“Here I was, working more than 40 hours a week, bringing home $15 an hour or more,” recalls DeLonzo. “Still, I was struggling to pay for rent, food and clothing.”

Then DeLonzo became very ill with pneumonia. While recovering, he decided to make some life changes – including finding a living situation that didn’t take the lion’s share of his income. After applying for Section 8 housing, the Popes moved into an affordable flat at One Church Street Apartments, a development in the Duboce Triangle neighborhood.

It was the best move the Popes ever made. DeLonzo is now pursuing a career in graphic design, his lifelong passion. Daughter Collette recently won scholastic recognition and son Taryn is following in DeLonzo’s footsteps with an interest in Tae Kwon Do.

“It’s beautiful here,” DeLonzo said of his home, where the family moved in 2003. “I love our neighbors. It’s close to where I grew up. I feel blessed.”