Ontario Opening Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hub in Lanark, Leeds and Grenville

$529 million record investment will create a total of 27 new HART Hubs across Ontario

Brockville – The Ontario government is helping create safer communities and supporting people struggling with addiction and mental health issues in Lanark, Leeds and Grenville by building a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub.

This new hub is part of the province’s plan to support safer communities by investing $529 million to create a total of 27 HART Hubs across the province while also banning drug injection sites from operating within 200 metres of schools and licensed child-care centres.

“This a game-changer to provide the most vulnerable people in our region with the life-changing – and life-saving – help they need. Our HART Hub will connect people with complex needs to comprehensive treatment and preventative services, as well as mental health and social supports,” said Steve Clark, MPP for Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes. “It’s the promise of a new path forward and hope for individuals and their families whose lives have been devastated by addiction.”

Clark also thanked the Hon. Michael Tibollo, who challenged local leaders to work collaboratively on a solution to address homelessness, mental health and addictions when he met with them in Brockville prior to Labour Day.

“I was proud that Lanark, Leeds and Grenville Addictions and Mental Health, the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, and Lanark County stepped up after that meeting and, working on a tight timeline, applied for a HART Hub. It was a bold – but absolutely necessary step forward,” said Clark.

“This funding is part of our government’s “Road Map to Wellness” and is a welcome addition to health services in Smiths Falls, Brockville and the surrounding area. This funding represents a great collaboration between Lanark, Leeds and Grenville Addictions & Mental Health, Lanark County Mental Health and our municipal leaders,” said John Jordan, MPP for Lanark, Frontenac, Kingston. “I am proud of this program reaching the approval stage and am confident that it will provide a safe and welcoming space for those who need immediate support, so they can have positive long-term results.”

Lanark, Leeds and Grenville’s HART Hub, similar to existing hub models in Ontario that have successfully provided people with care, will reflect regional priorities by connecting people with complex needs to comprehensive treatment and preventative services.

“By locating a HART Hub here in Brockville to serve Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, the Government of Ontario is demonstrating it recognizes that the challenges of mental health, addictions, and homelessness extend beyond large urban centres. Small-town and rural Ontario have also been deeply impacted. I am grateful to the Ford Government for directing these vital resources to our community, ensuring we are better equipped to support those in need and making our community safer for all who live here.” said Matt Wren, Mayor, the City of Brockville

“We are thrilled to be selected as a HART Hub site and recognize how vital this initiative will be in providing support to our most vulnerable neighbours. At the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, we look forward to collaborating with Lanark, Leeds and Grenville Addictions and Mental Health to ensure that the right services are in place, offering hope for a brighter future,” said Corinna Smith-Gatcke, Warden, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville

Planning efforts to create the HART Hub in Leeds Grenville are underway and the proposed services to be offered could include:

• Primary care
• Mental health and addiction services including case management, withdrawal management beds, medical detoxification, and structured relapse prevention
• Peer support
• Mental health and addictions supportive housing and transitional living and overnight shelters
• Vocational and employment support and guidance

“Our government is helping more people get the treatment and support they need, when and where they need it, by taking the next step to improve access to mental health and addictions services,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Our investment to create a total of 27 new HART Hubs will keep communities safe and ensure timely and comprehensive access to mental health support, addiction care, primary care, supportive housing, and employment services, no matter where you live.”

The 18 new HART hub locations, including in Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, were chosen as a result of a provincewide call for proposals last summer. All HART Hubs will have the goal of being operational by April 1, 2025. Earlier this year, the province announced that 9 drug injection sites in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener, Guelph and Thunder Bay that are required to close due to being located within 200 metres of schools or licensed child-care centres have been approved for transition to a HART Hub. This brings the total number of HART Hubs across the province to 27, 8 more than initially planned.

“We are investing more than any government in Ontario’s history to create a nation-leading system of mental health and addictions care,” said Michael Tibollo, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. “The new HART Hubs will give people struggling with addiction the support and treatment services they need to achieve lasting recovery.”

Through Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care and Building on the Roadmap to Wellness, the province is taking action to connect individuals to integrated mental health and addiction services, where and when they need them.

QUICK FACTS:

• To address the unique needs of communities across the province, Ontario is adding an additional 8 HART Hubs to the initial number earmarked, bringing the total to 27 new HART Hubs.
• The creation of HART Hubs is being done in partnership with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, and the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.
• With a focus on treatment and recovery, HART Hubs will not offer so-called safer supply, supervised drug consumption or needle exchange programs.
• Through the Community Care and Recovery Act, of 2024, the province has prohibited municipalities and local boards from applying to Health Canada for an exemption for the decriminalization of drugs. The Act also prohibits municipalities and local boards from applying to Health Canada for funding or entering into an agreement with Health Canada in respect of safer supply services or applying for an exemption or renewal of an exemption to operate a supervised consumption site, without prior provincial approval.
• Through the Roadmap to Wellness, Ontario is investing $3.8 billion over 10 years to fill gaps in mental health and addiction care, create new services and expand programs.Through the Roadmap to Wellness, the Addictions Recovery Fund and other initiatives, the government recently made the following investments:$124 million over the next three years as part of Budget 2024 to sustain more than 380 addiction recovery beds and models of treatment like mobile mental health clinics.
  • $152 million over three years for supportive housing to assist individuals facing unstable housing conditions and experiencing mental health and addictions challenges.
  • More than $22 million over four years to create 10 new Youth Wellness Hubs that the government is adding to the network of 22 hubs already opened in 2020, bringing the total number of Youth Wellness Hubs to 32 across the province.
  • More than $650 million in annual funding for the Homelessness Prevention Program and $41.5 million for the Indigenous Supportive House Program, which the government increased by $202 million annually in the 2023 provincial budget.
  • Up to $16 million to support Police-Partnered Mobile Crisis Response Teams in over 50 communities across the province so that health care professionals can attend crisis situations.
  • Over $60 million in annual funding to support Indigenous-led mental health, addictions and well-being supports that will help individuals, families and communities heal from the impacts of intergenerational trauma and colonization through culturally safe and responsive programs and services that are designed and delivered by and for Indigenous people.