Nineteen new addiction treatment hubs will be operational in Ontario before 10 supervised consumption sites are forced to close their doors in March, the Ford government is promising.
In a surprise announcement last week, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones unveiled almost $380 million in funding for addiction recovery hubs, while ordering the majority of supervised drug consumption sites in the province to close their doors.
The government also unveiled plans to stop other supervised drug injection sites from opening in Ontario, going against its own expert advice but citing rising crime and complaints from neighbours.
The move has been touted by Ontario Premier Doug Ford as a swing to focus on tackling addiction itself instead of preventing fatal overdoses through either the supply of safe drugs or spaces where overdoses can be quickly reversed.
“That doesn’t work — I know, I’ve dealt with it within our family, I’ve dealt with it within our community,” Ford said of supervised consumption sites at an unrelated event on Monday.
“What works is rehab, detox beds, supporting these people with good-paying jobs, housing is absolutely critical and there’s a whole row of things, not just ignoring it. That’s my personal opinion — and we’re putting our money where our mouth is.”
Initial funding for four years
The government has committed a total of $378 million over four years to fund 19 so-called HART Hubs, which will operate as intensive and coordinated addiction recovery spaces. The government says that money will include start-up costs for the current year and also cover operating costs like salaries, leases or utilities.
The $378 million should result in 375 “highly supportive” housing units as part of the hub model, a government spokesperson told Global News. Details of how the call for proposals for local groups to run the locations will work are set to come “later this month” with plans to begin operating the sites sometime between December 2024 and March 2025.
The government said it plans to have no gaps in care, meaning the new hubs will be open before supervised consumption sites are ordered to close by March 31, 2025.
Advocates have broadly welcomed the HART hub funding announcements but are begging the government to reverse, or at least significantly delay, its decision to close supervised consumption sites to allow an orderly transition and avoid potentially fatal capacity problems.
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“Keep our site running and the other sites funded until these new hubs are set up and then we could be doing warm referrals,” Barb Panter, senior manager of harm reduction and drop-in programs at a Kensington Market supervised consumption site, previously suggested in an interview with Global News.
“You come in and see us because we’ve got five years of relationships, and then we’re going to take you over to this HART hub, and we’re going to get you set up there.”
Ontario NDP health critic France Gelinas was similarly supportive of the new funding and worried about the closure decision.
“The $378 million they’re putting forward is welcome news,” she said. “But this is a provincewide issue, what will happen to the other 400 municipalities (who don’t get a HART hub) dealing with the same toxic drugs, the same opioid crisis we have? They will continue to depend on mental health and addiction agencies that, in my community, has an 18-months wait list for children… in 18 months, many of those young people will be dead.”
The government said each individual HART hub will be in charge of its own waitlist and prioritizing who to serve. Mandatory evaluations of sites selected to receive a chunk of the government funding will be ordered, with the results deciding “future funding” for the locations.
The spokesperson explained to Global News that each hub will address its own “locally identified gaps” in mental health and addictions by “leveraging an integrated approach” and co-locating with other services.
“The specific service mix will vary and be determined by communities that best respond to their local needs,” the spokesperson said.
Capacity fears at new sites
Local officials across Ontario, desperately waiting to see funding increased, are anxious for the finer details to be published and the process to proceed.
In Belleville, for example, where 13 people overdosed in roughly an hour in February, prompting a state of emergency, the mayor is expecting to receive the green light for a hub.
“I think we have to apply, or whoever is going to run ours apply, but hopefully we’re in that group (that gets funding),” Mayor Neil Ellis told Global News. “We’ve had land on hold for a site, builders lined up… we’re ready, it’s a matter of how long we get through the bureaucracy to push it over the goal line.”
The relief will be welcome in Belleville but will only be a drop in the bucket. Mayor Ellis said just over 200 people struggling with homelessness have been identified in his town, with the HART hubs likely to bring an average of 20 to 30 beds per location.
“This is the first step,” Ellis said. “Would the centre be able to accommodate 20 people? Thirty people? The numbers are going to be low. And when you go through the treatment, is the treatment going to take six months? Four months? Not everyone is going to have the treatment, so there’s other things that need to be done.”
That gap also worries advocates who are imploring Premier Ford to change his mind about closing down supervised consumption sites, warning drug problems will become more visible and more fatal — even with new funding — if he does not.
“Without safe consumption sites [addicts] will be forced into the shadows,” Nas Yadollahi, president of CUPE Local 79, said on Monday. “This will lead to more needles on our streets, in our transit system, in our parks, and yes in the very same playgrounds that we’re trying to save.”
Jessica Lyons, a registered nurse and CUPE union leader who works at a consumption site in Toronto, said they reversed 517 overdoses last year. They supervised more than 1,000 visits, she said, and 116 people received primary care through its wraparound services.
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“We are calling on the government to stop these closures and to instead scale up a response that would actually address the crisis that we are in,” said Lyons.
“Which means expanding access to supervised injection services, expanding access to various evidence-based treatment types and to address connected crises such as the affordable housing crisis.”
Workers at the current sites hope the government will continue its funding commitment and rapid opening timeline for HART hubs while changing its mind on the closure of the 10 supervised consumption sites slated to close due to their proximity to schools and child-care centres.
“We’ve seen him walk back on things and he needs to walk this back,” Lyons said. “This was what he thought was a political power move, and it’s a political liability.”
— with files from The Canadian Press