Waterloo Region has received funding for a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub.
The provincial government’s decision to fund HART Hub’s across Ontario came alongside the decision to close Consumption and Treatment Service (CTS) sites across Ontario within 200 meters of schools or child-care centres.
The Kitchener CTS site—operated by Sanguen Health Centre—falls under this category and will have to close its doors by Mar. 31, 2025 as a result.
At the beginning of January, the provincial government announced that the Waterloo Region was among 9 locations to receive HART Hub funding—each of the nine locations have CTS sites facing closure at the end of March.
Later in January, the government announced 18 more locations that would receive HART Hub funding, bringing the total to 27 hubs across Ontario, to fulfil their plan to invest $529 million to address homelessness and improve access to mental health and addictions services.
The region’s HART Hub, which will be located at 44 Francis St. S., is set to open by Mar. 31, when the Kitchener CTS closes. The Hub will be co-operated by House of Friendship and Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo.
“As co-leads, Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo and House of Friendship are working closely with the Region and Sanguen Health Centre as the community prepares for the scheduled closure of the Kitchener CTS site. It is our desire to mitigate the impact experienced by those affected by this closure as much as possible,” Tara Groves-Taylor, CEO of Community Healthcaring KW, and John Neufeld, executive director of House of Friendship, said in a joint statement.
Some of the services at the region’s HART Hub will include primary care, mental health and addictions care, housing, employment, and social services amongst other basic needs. The HART Hub will not provide harm reduction supports.
In the joint statement, Groves-Taylor and Neufeld wrote that the HART Hub has been designed to augment and add resources to the services that already exist in the community.
“The anchor site is at Community Healthcaring Kitchener-Waterloo with other locations and pathways for HART Hub services across Kitchener and Cambridge, including a rural outreach pathway, that leverages existing service providers, and focuses on outreach to existing spaces and places where individuals already congregate,” the statement said.
While the HART Hubs will not offer consumption services or harm reduction, the HART Hub will offer some services provided by the CTS such as rapid access, addictions, medicine, peer support and primary care.
In addition, the HART Hub will offer addictions counselling, something not currently offered through the CTS.
The closure of the Kitchener CTS has been heavily criticized by local advocates. In addition, community members have questioned why the current CTS site on Duke St. is not transitioning to a HART Hub.
Rhonda Nicholls, director of strategy, performance and partnerships at Region of Waterloo Public Health and Paramedic Services, said that there were several eligibility criteria to be an operator of the HART Hub, such as a multi-service accountability agreement (MSAA) with Ontario Health, which Sanguen does not currently have.
“Additionally, Sanguen Health Services is really focused on their mandate, which is harm reduction services, and not necessarily the full suite of services that are required within the HART Hub, which is mental health and addictions, counselling, housing and all of those other pieces,” Nicholls said.
Nicholls noted that Sanguen, public health and other organizations have been meeting on a regular basis to discuss the closure and its impact on the community.
“Those conversations remain active. Several conversations and strategies are emerging, and there will be more shared about that in future,” Nicholls said.
Sanguen Health Centre were unable to comment about the upcoming closure of the CTS site.
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