Barrie city councillors want what the province has proposed--- one of 19 Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs.
The government announced this summer that it would spend $378 million to establish these centres across Ontario, shifting away from drug consumption sites and needle exchange programs to focus on treatment.
City council on Wednesday approved a direct motion to support the County of Simcoe's application to the province, which has yet to be submitted, for a homelessness and addiction treatment hub in order to respond to the community's complex service needs, including homelessness, substance use and mental health.
The County of Simcoe is responsible for social services programs in the region.
"It's not the City of Barrie that will be receiving the funding, it would be the County of Simcoe," explained Mayor Alex Nuttall, if the county is approved for one of the hubs. " Inside the funding request, it says the local service manager needs to be the one leading it, which in this case is the County of Simcoe. It's doing so with the partnership with both the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and the Canadian Mental Health Association as partners for physical and mental health."
The Ford government unveiled the HART proposal when it released a package of new restrictions on supervised consumption sites, which includes a ban on the sites within 200 metres of schools and childcare centres. The decision will result in the closure of 10 facilities.
The 10 sites that will close by March 2025 because of the new rules are five in Toronto and one in Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Kitchener, Hamilton, and Guelph.
"We need to do more to protect public safety, especially for young children, while helping people get the treatment they need, which is why we're taking the next step to expand access to a broad range of treatment and recovery services, while keeping kids and communities safe," said Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, in an address to the Association of Ontario Municipalities at their annual meeting in August in Ottawa.
Jones indicated applications for HART hubs from current consumption treatment sites slated to close will be prioritized.
with files from The Canadian Press
.
