San Francisco Opens First-Ever Sober Homeless Shelter, And The Results Are Exactly What You’d Expect
By John Loftus
Copyright dailycaller
In a new initiative, the Salvation Army recently opened Hope House, a 58-bed, strictly sober homeless shelter under a two-year, $8.1 million contract with the city of San Francisco, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Sept. 10. A first for the liberal city that has been plagued by homelessness, drug addiction, and crime, the facility has a zero-tolerance policy regarding drugs and alcohol. (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a free weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)
“The original strategy throughout the city was just to get people off the streets, and this sets the bar a little bit higher,” Steve Adami of the Salvation Army told the outlet. “What we’re trying to do is create a structured environment that gets people to show up and start practicing how to emulate real life.”
The shelter includes single- and double-occupancy rooms, communal areas, and a dining hall. Residents must meet with their case managers twice a week and participate in at least two daily activities, which include life skill classes, walks, and recovery group meetings. Staff are also required to conduct random drug screenings. Anyone who fails a drug test will be immediately moved to a new homeless shelter.
Compared to other shelters across the city — which, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, emphasize immediate access to housing rather than addiction treatment or long-term help to prepare homeless addicts for an independent, stable life — Hope House stands out as a shining example. And it may finally help the city’s government, led by Democratic Mayor Mayor Daniel Lurie, to make a more lasting impact on the homeless.
In August, Lurie’s administration announced that the city and California Department of Transportation inked a deal allowing local officials to clear homeless camps along state highway properties within the city’s limits, particularly from critical thoroughfares such as U.S. 101 and Interstate 80. Other blue cities, including Los Angeles and Atlanta, are taking similar steps to clean up their streets. (RELATED: Even Liberal Cities Are Cleaning Up Their Streets As Media, Democrats Complain About Trump)
