Funding uncertainty further delays London’s HART Hub for homelessness and addiction treatment

The centre for homelessness and treating addictions was supposed to open April 1 but has yet to open its doors. CTV London’s Daryl Newcombe has the story.

Initially intended to be operating by April, London’s Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub still doesn’t have a firm opening date.

London’s $6.3 million HART Hub will operate 60 treatment spaces inside the Salvation Army Centre of Hope, plus an additional 60 supportive housing units across the city.

However, Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services tells CTV News that its unable to provide an opening date for the facility.

An emailed statement from CMHA Thames Valley explains, “... we are still waiting for funding confirmation to be able to move forward with hiring and having an opening date.”

In total, the province is spending $550 million over four years on 28 new HART Hubs.

“Our government is continuing to work with the remaining HART Hubs,” reads an email from Ema Popovic, Spokesperson for Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones. “… including the Hub which will provide services to the London area, as soon as possible.”

After missing the April 1 target to open London’s HART Hub, a revised opening “in May” was announced.

Councillor Hadleigh McAlister emphasizes the urgent need for HART Hub services in London.

“We talk a lot about health and homelessness, and the healthcare component is absolutely a provincial responsibility, and we need those services online as soon as possible,” McAlister explains.

Services provided within the HART Hub will include:

• Addiction recovery & treatment
• Mental health care
• Crisis support
• Basic needs
• Primary healthcare
• Income & employment supports

The HART hub is expected to provide a place where people can stabilize in one of its 60 spaces before moving into the supportive housing.

Minister Jones has previously credited London’s homelessness strategy for inspiring the HART Hub model of care, but other communities are already providing the provincially-funded addiction treatment and healthcare.

On June 26, the HART of Simcoe County held a soft launch of its services in communities around Barrie.

In addition, nine HART Hubs opened on April 1 in five cities where supervised drug consumption sites were closed by the province (Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener, Guelph and Thunder Bay).

Coun. McAlister urges a quick resolution to the funding uncertainty, “(The City) can only do so much in terms of being able to provide people with basic needs, but when it comes to those higher need services, like addiction support and mental health, that’s where we need the province to step in.”

Two low-barrier hubs continue to operate in London through the local initiative known as the Whole of Community Response to Homelessness.

The complete statement from the Spokesperson for Minister Jones: