Simcoe County’s first HART Hub is expected to be operational by July.
The Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) program is a “first-of-its-kind” initiative in the county designed to deliver wraparound support to individuals facing addiction and housing instability.
The first participants are expected to begin treatment by mid-July.
Last year, during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, municipalities learned they would have just 30 days to submit a letter of intent to join the provincial initiative, and then another 30 to submit a full application.
Simcoe made the cut.
Now, after months of intensive planning, the HART of Simcoe County is open, though not as a single facility. Rather than one central site, HART is a network of services offered across multiple local organizations, providing outreach, addiction treatment, mental health care, housing and employment support, and Indigenous-specific services.
Partners include the Barrie and Area Ontario Health Team, the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Simcoe County Branch (CMHA SCB), County of Simcoe, Barrie Native Friendship Centre, Mamaway Wiidokdaadwin IIPCT/Barrie Area Native Advisory Circle, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, and Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care.
Mayor Alex Nuttall praised the collaborative effort, saying the model moves away from fragmented services and toward an integrated, person-focused system.
“The outlook for too long has not been focused on how we bring everybody together to work together to help one individual,” he said. “It’s quite a concept if you think about it… If I could describe what the HART hub is going to do, it’s going to take a whole bunch of people who are specialists, bring them together, in some ways in location and in some ways in pathways outside of a single location, but all focus on helping one person. That is something we should be incredibly proud of.”
The HART model is also the Ford government’s preferred alternative to supervised consumption sites (SCS), which have proven politically and socially contentious in some communities.
Unlike SCS facilities, the HART hub will not include a space for supervised injection or drug consumption. Instead, the focus is on a broader suite of supports to stabilize and empower individuals on the road to recovery. Once enrolled, participants will be guided through a personalized care plan that may include:
- Outreach and engagement
- Withdrawal management
- Live-in addiction treatment and pre-treatment
- Mental health services and crisis support
- Housing navigation
- Employment and social assistance
- Indigenous-led and culturally specific services
The program is being phased in gradually, with provincial funding first announced in January. The rollout began in late June and will continue through the summer as partners expand their capacity to serve.
