Ontario opens homelessness and addiction hubs, replacing consumption sites near schools and daycares

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 01, 2025 9:54 AM EDT | Last Updated: 17 minutes ago

Ontario opened 9 Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs connected Tuesday, replacing the supervised cause depletion sites crossed the state that are located adjacent schools and child-care centres. 

The hubs supply entree to betterment and attraction systems for radical struggling with addictions and intelligence wellness issues, but bash not supply immoderate cause depletion services, the state said in a news merchandise Tuesday. 

These hubs were announced aft the state passed authorities past twelvemonth banning supervised depletion sites wrong 200 metres of schools and daycares. Nine retired of 10 sites slated to adjacent successful the state agreed to go HART hubs. 

Advocates person criticized the province's displacement to an abstinence-based attraction model, which they accidental could effect successful much radical dying arsenic a effect of the toxic cause supply. 

HART hubs volition person up to 4 times much backing than they did arsenic supervised depletion sites, the provincial quality merchandise said. They volition supply services including superior care, intelligence wellness services, addiction attraction and support and employment support. 

The hubs opening Tuesday are located successful Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener, Guelph and Thunder Bay. The authorities is spending $550 cardinal to make a full of 28 HART hubs crossed the province, the quality merchandise said. 

Sites closed contempt injunction granted past week 

Last week, an Ontario justice granted an injunction to support the 10 supervised depletion sites unfastened portion helium considers a Charter situation to the province's legislation. But a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said Monday that the sites would inactive close. 

The state volition withhold backing from immoderate HART Hub that continues to supply supervised cause depletion services, spokesperson Hannah Jensen said. 

Even if supervised cause depletion sites located adjacent schools and daycares are nary longer forced to close, they whitethorn yet adjacent anyhow if they don't person the provincial funds to support operating, said Diana Chan McNally, a Toronto assemblage idiosyncratic and adept successful harm reduction.

The Charter situation was launched by the Neighbourhood Group, which runs the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention tract successful Toronto. The tract is the lone 1 of the 10 sites successful the state that volition stay open, arsenic it operates connected donations and is not provincially funded.

More than 21,000 overdoses person been reversed astatine supervised depletion sites crossed the state since they became ineligible successful 2019, tribunal heard past week. 

The pursuing centres are opening HART hubs connected Tuesday. Toronto Public Health volition besides beryllium creating a hub downtown: 

• Guelph Community Health Centre
• Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre 
• NorWest Community Health Centres (Thunder Bay) 
• Somerset West Community Health Centre (Ottawa) 
• Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo
• Parkdale Queen West (Toronto) 
• Regent Park (Toronto) 
• South Riverdale Community Health Centre (Toronto)