Homelessness and addiction hub approved for Chinatown

Somerset West Community Health Centre's application for millions of dollars in funding for a homelessness and addiction treatment hub has gotten the green light from the province.

The health centre in Ottawa's Chinatown hosts one of 10 supervised drug consumption sites that will be forced to close under new provincial rules banning them within 200 metres of schools or licensed daycares.

The Ministry of Health said it would instead commit $378 million for 19 Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs — and said it would prioritize applications from nine of the facilities losing their consumption sites. 

On Thursday, the ministry announced that it has approved all nine of those applications. They will each receive $6.3 million annually for three years.

"The new HART Hubs will give people struggling with addiction the support and treatment services they need to achieve lasting recovery," according to Michael Tibollo, Ontario's associate minister of mental health and addictions.

The province plans to fund 10 more, but it has not yet announced which ones it will approve. Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre is leading an application to open one in west Ottawa.

The ministry said a decision on the remaining applications is expected in the coming weeks. 

According to the provincial government, the HART hub at Somerset West will be a "low-barrier, trauma-informed, culturally responsive" 24/7 health-care model, integrating elements like primary care, mental health and substance use treatment, and housing with supports.

Suzanne Obiorah, executive director of Somerset West Community Health Centre, said it will offer four different mental health and addiction treatment options. While anyone can walk in to start a conversation about treatment or housing, the hub will prioritize people who currently rely on the consumption site.

"This is really about supporting people who are at greatest risk of homelessness and or who are currently experiencing homelessness," said Obiorah.

She said it will provide quicker access to treatment, rapid referral to off-site detox and links to about 65 supportive housing units. The hub will be able to connect about 1,000 people with primary care, though the capacity for other services remains to be determined.

While Obiorah called it "fortunate" that Somerset West can still serve its clients, she still questions the decision to close the consumption site.

"We do have concerns around this," she said. "We know that most people will not travel more than 500 metres, or up to a kilometre, for supervised consumption and treatment service, and so that is a worry, as the closest site to Somerset West is about four kilometres away."

Somerset West also runs a needle exchange, but the province has insisted that such services cannot be co-located at HART hubs. Obiorah said Somerset West may look to operate it at one of its satellite locations or through a mobile outreach team.

The 10 supervised consumption sites are required to close by the end of March, and the province has set a goal of April 1 to have HART hubs open. Obiorah said Somerset West is looking to start services in the hub during the spring.

HART hubs are not permitted to operate needle exchanges or supervised consumption, nor can they operate safer supply programs, which provide opioid drugs like hydromorphone to replace street drugs like fentanyl.

Ottawa still has three supervised consumption sites, which allow users to inject or otherwise use drugs in indoor spaces where staff can intervene to reverse overdoses.

The remaining sites are all located within a few blocks of each other in Lowertown and north Sandy Hill, operated by the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, Ottawa Inner City Health and Ottawa Public Health.