Ottawa’s latest HART hub will serve for urban, suburban and rural residents struggling with substance use and housing challenges.
Officials with Ottawa’s latest Homelessness and Addiction Recovery (HART) hub say they are finalizing a search for a location that will offer services for urban, suburban, small-town and rural residents in the city’s west end who are struggling with substance use or homelessness.
The proposal for a HART hub operated by Pinecrest Queensway Community Health Centre and 25 partners, was approved this week by the Ontario government. It is the second such program to be approved for the city. Earlier, the province approved a HART hub operated by Somerset West Community Health Centre and partners in central Ottawa. Somerset West was given priority for the centre after the province announced last year it would close its supervised consumption site because of its proximity to schools and daycares.
Officials say they expect 7,000 visits a year to the hub which will be located in the city’s west end. The program will offer a mix of health and social services for addiction care, including withdrawal management, a walk-in clinic, counselling, other addiction management and housing support.
During a press conference, Pinecrest Queensway Community Health Centre executive director Tamara Chipperfield said the HART hub’s services will go beyond the building to include housing and other supports, including diversion from the emergency department to the hub for patients experiencing substance use challenges. The Ottawa Paramedic Service and other paramedic organizations are among the organizations involved in the hub.
“The HART Hub model is based on meeting people where they are at. Looking at the needs of the person in front of us and supporting them and accessing the services that may be best applied to support them in their journey,” Chipperfield said.
Pinecrest Queensway was one of 18 HART Hubs announced by Minister of Health Sylvia Jones this week. She said the goal was to have them operational by April 1.
Evening Update
Officials with Pinecrest Queensway say they are still waiting for further information from the province on the $6.3-million proposal, but some parts of the program can be ready to go even before a building is secured and renovations are complete.
Mark MacAulay, CEO of Ottawa Salus, a charity that provides housing support to people living with mental illness, said the HART hub’s approach will include a focus on housing loss prevention for individuals with substance use and mental health challenges. That includes support to prevent eviction.
“We can stop individuals from becoming homeless in the first place.”
He also said staff would offer immediate housing and support for people who arrive at emergency shelters or are at risk of losing their housing.
“Eviction prevention and shelter diversion are among the most cost-effective interventions for ending homelessness. They help stabilize a person’s housing situation before they have a crisis,” he said. “The housing first model means we don’t place conditions on housing. We meet them where they are at, help them get housed and support them to stay housed. Ottawa Salus has a long history of doing this work. This is what we do and we are up for the challenge.”
Chipperfield said the need for substance use and housing support is as great in Ottawa’s west end, including suburban, rural and village communities as it is in central Ottawa.
“It may feel like it is very visible downtown, but we know that there are many, many people in other parts of the city who are couch surfing and who are currently unhoused, it just isn’t as visible as what we are seeing in the downtown. The needs in our city are huge.”
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