Barrie council lends support to county's local HART hub application

The County of Simcoe has Barrie’s support for its pending provincial application for a homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) hub to serve the community’s complex service needs, including homelessness, substance use and mental health concerns.

City council unanimously approved a direct motion to this effect last night, and also that Mayor Alex Nuttall provide the county with a letter of support.

Deputy Mayor Robert Thomson, who moved the motion, said that as part of the application requirements, a motion of council is encouraged to show support for the HART hub program, and the application.

Only Coun. Sergio Morales had questions.

“What are the next steps in a process like this … what is the runway? If we’re successful,” he asked.

Nuttall noted it’s not the City of Barrie that would receive funding but the County of Simcoe, which is the local manager of these type of services. He said this is being done in partnership of both Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) and the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), as partners for physical and mental health.

“And I believe that they have a ton of other internal partners in terms of referrals and diversion, to housing, whether that’s transitional housing or more permanent, so we won’t actually as a council receive an answer — it will be the County of Simcoe that receives the answer and they will be obviously the leads on the project,” Nuttall said.

“So it will be the County of Simcoe leading any potential public consultations or feedback processes in terms of locations and sourcing sites and that kind of stuff, right?” Morales asked.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Nuttall responded. 

Ontario’s Ministry of Health has issued a call for proposals for homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs. They are to offer services supporting the treatment and recovery of individuals with needs relating to mental health, addictions, primary care, employment and social services, plus offer a direct route to supportive housing.

The province says it is investing $378 million during the next three years to support the creation of 19 HART hubs — 10 of which are being implemented through a call for proposals now.

The ministry will fund these 10 new hubs through a budget of $6.3 million per year, per hub, beginning 2025-26 to 2027-28, and with $1.8 million per hub to support one-time startup and implementation costs.

Proposals must be to the ministry no later than Oct. 18, 2024, hence the need for a direct motion of Barrie council.

Mina Fayez-Bahgat, general manager of social and community services for the County of Simcoe, has said since launching its 10-point homeless prevention strategy in July 2023 the county has been making significant investments and enhancements to social and community services programs in Barrie and across the region. 

Two of the pillars created include improving safety and well-being and creating easier ways to access services for those experiencing homelessness, he said Wednesday. 

“The HART hub is a new provincial program that aligns with our strategy,” Fayez-Bahgat said.

The county had not applied as of Wednesday, he said, and is in the process of developing an application. No location for a HART hub has been specified.

The province says HART hubs will add as many as 375 supportive housing units, in addition to addiction recovery and treatment beds, to help thousands of people each year transition to more stable long-term housing. With a focus on treatment and recovery, HART hubs will not offer ‘safer’ supply, supervised drug consumption or needle exchange programs, the ministry says.

The ban on supervised consumption sites (SCS) within 200 metres of a school or child-care centre will result in the closure of nine provincially funded sites and one self-funded site, located in Ottawa, Guelph, Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Kitchener and Toronto, no later than March 31, 2025.

A provincial funding application for a Barrie SCS was withdrawn last June when no action was taken on it for two and a half years. The application had come from the Simcoe County branch of the CMHA.