The province is planning for all HART Hubs to be operational by April 1, 2025. Pictured: Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones. Photo Credit: Sylvia Jones/X.
The Government of Ontario recently announced that Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Centre is one of nine approved applicants from across the province to be the site of a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub.
The government’s new HART Hubs are meant to be a replacement for so-called “safe injection sites.”
The province’s $378-million HART Hubs plan was announced back in August 2024 at the same time as their announcement that they will be closing and banning all drug consumption sites that are within 200 metres of schools and child care centres as of March 31, 2025.
The government also announced that they would be prohibiting municipalities or any organization from setting up new consumption sites or participating in any federal drug supply initiatives.
That announcement meant that Hamilton Urban Core’s drug consumption site at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church at James Street South and Jackson Street East will be forced to close since it is within 200 metres of the YWCA Hamilton Downtown Child Care Centre.
Only eight of the 17 drug consumption sites across Ontario will be permitted to stay open.
However, as an alternative, the Government of Ontario offered organizations the opportunity to apply to run one of their new HART Hub locations.
So far, all nine drug injection sites that have been forced to close will be transitioned to HART Hubs.
The Ontario government eventually plans to open 10 more locations for 19 in total across the province.
The province says that the hubs “will be eligible, on average, to receive up to four times more funding to support treatment and recovery under the model than they receive from the province as a consumption site.”
“To assist with transitioning, the sites will also receive one time funding for start-up costs,” continues the government’s press release.
The government says that HART Hubs will add an estimated 375 highly supportive housing units to the province, in addition to addiction recovery and treatment beds.
It appears that Hamilton’s new HART Hub will be located at Urban Core’s health centre on Cannon Street East near Wentworth Street.
Other announced HART Hubs will be located in Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener, Guelph, and Thunder Bay.
Hamilton Urban Core says that the hub will provide primary healthcare, ID clinics and housing services, mental health and addiction treatments, residential addiction programs, supportive housing and social services, health promotion and wraparound support, and employment programs.
They say that it will be “more than just a hub – it’s a commitment to addressing the root causes of inequality and building a brighter future for everyone in Hamilton.”
Indeed, Ontario’s Solicitor General Michael Kerzner says, “By transitioning to the HART Hub model, we are taking concrete action to reduce crime in several communities across the province and providing those struggling with addiction with help they need.”
The province is planning for all HART Hubs to be operational by April 1, 2025.
Through the province’s “Roadmap to Wellness,” the Government of Ontario is investing $3.8 billion over the next 10 years “to fill gaps in mental health and addictions care, create new services, and expand programs.”
Some investments that have already been made include more than $22 million over four years to create 10 new Youth Wellness Hubs, more than $650 million in annual funding for the Homelessness Prevention Program, and up to $16 million to support Police-Partnered Mobile Crisis Response Teams in over 50 communities in the province.
It should be noted that the province’s closing of multiple drug consumption sites back in August drew mixed reactions from Hamilton City Council.
At the time, Councillor Cameron Kroetsch (Ward 2 – Downtown Hamilton) posted on social media that “without [drug consumption sites], people will be forced to use drugs in public, and without a safe supply, more of our neighbours will die.”
Kroetsch later retweeted a post calling the province’s announcement “a murderous act.”
On the other hand, Councillor John-Paul Danko (Ward 8 – West/Central Mountain), called the move “a welcome change,” adding that “Hamilton residents are done with enabling drug use” and that “policies that promote and support illegal drugs have been disastrous for Hamilton neighbourhoods.”
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
