Those living on the streets of San Francisco who are trying to stay clean and who don't want to stay in shelters around rampant drug use and chaos now have a new option in the city's shelter system.

The Salvation Army has just opened Hope House in San Francisco, a 58-bed sober-living shelter on Sixth Street where there is zero tolerance for drugs or alcohol. And for some, it has reportedly been a welcome change.

As the Chronicle reports, the shelter includes single- and double-occupancy rooms, as well as common space and a dining hall. It's designed to accommodate extended stays — anywhere from 90 days to a year — and Hope House has begun taking in its first residents in recent weeks, who are referred there by city outreach workers.

Case managers on site will help residents with housing assistance, life skills training, and there will be recovery support groups as well, with the goal of helping people exit homelessness and get on a path to long-term recovery, per the Chronicle.

In a city where shelters have typically been more laissez-faire, with the goal of being accessible to the maximum number of people, Hope House marks a different approach. Salvation Army staff will conduct random drug screenings of residents, and anyone who tests positive will be transferred to another shelter.

"We're hyper-focused on the intersection of drug addiction and homelessness," said Steve Adami, executive director of the Salvation Army's The Way Out homeless initiative, speaking to KTVU last month about the shelter. "It expands the city's response to the drug and homeless crisis. This is not a harm-reduction program. It's an abstinence-based program."

Shireen McSpadden, the director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, sees Hope House as a good option for those who are seeking a sober environment to aid in their own recovery.

"We need choices that people are going to take us up on," McSpadden tells the Chronicle. "If they need this as a next step for them to get to stability, we want to provide that for them."

Hope House is operating under a two-year, $8.1 million contract with the homelessness department. As Mayor Daniel Lurie announced last month, Hope House is one of three recovery-focused shelter facilities opening in the city, along with the 70-bed Eleanora Fagan Center (formerly the Kean Hotel), and the 65-bed Wells Place (formerly the Marina Inn).

"Our administration is fundamentally transforming the city’s response to the homelessness and behavioral health crisis, and under our Breaking the Cycle plan, we are standing up the right kind of beds that connect people to the recovery and treatment services they need to get off our streets and truly get better," Lurie said in a statement.

Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, has some reservations about the facility, only because those who relapse could likely end up back on the street, given the city's shortage of shelter beds. As she tells the Chronicle, "It’s gonna be challenging to figure out how to create a sober space while ensuring the fundamental right to shelter is not sacrificed in any way without increasing capacity."

But Adami tells the paper, "We want to create a safe environment for people to thrive without all the chaotic drug use and people coming and going. It’s not meant to be punitive, but it is meant to help people learn from their mistakes."

43-year-old recovering fentanyl addict Gary Noakes tells the Chronicle that he's grateful to be in a sane and sober environment, after staying in shelters where others did drugs out in the open at night.

"It’s the safest and cleanest environment, and now I’m able to really work on myself," Noakes tells the paper.