Ottawa’s ANCHOR program expanding eastward this year to more neighbourhoods

Rideau-Vanier Councillor Stéphanie Plante discusses the program's expansion into the ByWard Market, Lowertown, Sandy Hill, Vanier, and Overbrook.

Ottawa’s Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR) program will be expanding into several more neighbourhoods later this year, the City of Ottawa says.

In a memo sent Thursday, city staff said the non-911 intervention program’s boundaries will be extended eastward at the end of June, into the ByWard Market, Lowertown, Sandy Hill, Lees Towers, Vanier, and Overbrook areas.

“The recommended geography expansion provides an opportunity to test the ability to scale the current program and more adequately support increased data collection and analysis to inform an evaluation and business case for the future of ANCHOR, including further expansion,” said general manager of Community and Social Services Clara Freire.

The ANCHOR program launched in 2024 in Centretown, allowing residents to call 2-1-1 for instances of mental health or substance use crisis instead of calling 9-1-1. In its first year, the program received more than 4,400 calls and resolved more than 92 per cent of them without police involvement.

City council approved $700,000 in the 2026 budget to accelerate the expansion of the program, which had already expanded once, moving west to Island Park Drive, beyond its initial boundary of Preston Street, and south of Highway 417 to Carling Avenue.

Freire said the expansion will include the addition of two new post-crisis response workers based in the new neighbourhoods and some additional funding to meet those needs.

“ANCHOR service providers analyzed resources required for a successful implementation in the new neighbourhoods to ensure that operations continue to meet service standards and reduce the risk of ‘level of zero’ events (events where no responders are available). Additional funding of up to $400,000 will be added from existing Community Safety Well-Being funding to cover this requirement,” Freire wrote.

The Community Social Services Department will develop a business case for future ANCHOR expansion to be delivered to Council early next year, including a plan for financial sustainability through the end of 2027.

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