Health Commission approves Salvation Army Marina Inn recovery housing amid robust neighborhood debate

The San Francisco Health Commission on June 5 approved a two‑year contract with the Salvation Army to convert the Marina Inn into an abstinence‑based recovery housing program for people who have completed residential substance‑use treatment. The contract’s base value was presented as $7.3 million with a 12% contingency; meeting materials and the motion record list the total with contingency in the neighborhood of $8.0 million.

The program is designed as a long‑term, structured sober‑living environment: residents will be required to have completed 3–6 months of residential treatment before entry, participate in a daily schedule of life‑skills and recovery meetings, maintain abstinence (confirmed with random drug testing) and pursue work or training. Salvation Army staff described the program as a four‑phase, two‑year residential recovery continuum intended to support housing, employment and family reunification.

Why it matters: Commissioners and department staff framed the Marina Inn project as the “back end” of the city’s behavioral‑health continuum designed to reduce returns to street homelessness by providing a structured stepping stone from residential treatment to independent living. At the same…