The Ontario government has announced 18 more municipalities will host a Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub including the City of Barrie.
Last October, the County of Simcoe and a number of local health-care agencies submitted an application to the Ministry of Health for the proposed facility.
In August 2024, Health Minister Sylvia Jones outlined a fundamental shift in the province's approach to the overdose crisis, largely driven by opioids such as fentanyl.
The province says the new hubs are part of a plan to support safer communities by investing $529 million to create a total of 27 HART hubs across Ontario while also banning drug injection sites from operating within 200 metres of schools and licensed child-care 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.
Earlier this year, the province announced that nine drug injection sites in Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Kitchener, Guelph and Thunder Bay have been approved for transition to a HART hub.
The goal is to open the 27 HART hubs by April 1.
"The only way through this crisis is by providing long-term help for individuals suffering from addictions," said Mayor Alex Nuttall in a provincial news release. "This much needed addiction treatment and rehabilitation program will be a game changer for our city."
Michael Tibollo, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, says the new HART hubs will give people struggling with addiction the support and treatment services they need to achieve lasting recovery.
The Barrie site will be known as "The HART of Simcoe."
Where in the city the hub will operate has not been made public.
According to the release, the HART hubs, similar to existing hub models in Ontario, including two in London, that have successfully provided people with care, will reflect regional priorities by connecting people with complex needs to comprehensive treatment and preventative services.
Other municipalities that were named on Monday to host HART hubs are Peterborough, Brampton, Greater Sudbury, Windsor, Belleville, Oshawa, London, Dufferin County, Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, Oxford County, Renfrew County, Niagara, Sarnia, Kenora, Ottawa and two locations in Sault Ste. Marie.
