Somerset West health centre OK'd by province as hub for addiction treatment

The central Ottawa location is one of 19 planned centres across Ontario, replacing safe-injection sites near schools and child-care centres.

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Published Jan 02, 2025  •  3 minute read

A file photo of the Somerset West Community Health Centre in Ottawa, approved by the province as one of the new HART Hub locations for addictions treatment. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia

The Ontario government has approved the transition of the Somerset Community Health Centre into a new addiction treatment centre from its former home as a drug injection site.

It will be one of nine new HART (Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment) Hubs, the province announced on Jan. 2. The new centres, which will receive an average of $6.3 million in government funding, including start-up costs, are expected to be running by March 31.

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The other approved HART Hubs will be in Toronto, Kitchener, Hamilton, Guelph and Thunder Bay. An announcement about the approval of another 10 sites within the province is expected within the next few weeks.

It’s part of the province’s Safer Streets, Stronger Communities Act and the Community Care and Recovery Act, a $378-million initiative aimed at protecting children and families while also helping the mental health and addiction epidemic.

Citing concerns about community safety, the Ontario government is closing supervised injection sites located within 200 metres of schools or licensed child-care centres, including the site at the Somerset West Community Health Centre.

“This provincial funding is a critical step towards supporting community needs for addiction treatment,” Mayor Mark Sutliffe said, in a statement released by the province. “Ottawa has a strong commitment to helping residents through the recovery journey. This funding will help to keep our communities safe and to provide wrap-around services to those who can benefit from addiction treatments.”

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Officials from the Somerset West Community Health Centre were unavailable for comment on Thursday, but in November Ottawa Public Health expressed its support for HART Hubs.

Another group including the Pinecrest-Community Health Centre and the Ottawa Paramedic Service has also applied to the province to consider a hub for the city’s west end.

“Together, the two HART hubs will serve a wide geography in the Ottawa region,” medical officer of health Dr. Vera Etches and general manager of community and social services Clara Freire said in a memo provided to the Ottawa Citizen.

Due to the large population in the national capital, they said, there is a need “to support the array of people in Ottawa who need wrap-around, intensive mental-health and substance-use care, along with services that focus on housing stabilization.”

Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, said Ontario residents had expressed safety concerns about the drug-injection sites that had been located close to places where children could be found.

Ontario Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones. Photo by Derek Baldwin /Postmedia

“We have heard loud and clear from families across Ontario that drug-injection sites near schools and child-care centres are making our communities less safe,” Jones said. “Through these nine new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hubs, we are taking the next step in our plan to keep communities safe while improving access to mental health and addictions services.”

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The government release said that the HART Hubs “will be eligible, on average, to receive up to four times more funding to support treatment and recovery under the model than they receive from the province as a consumption site.”

The centres are designed to connect those suffering from addictions to treatment and support systems, including mental-health and employment services.

Across the board, the hubs will also provide an additional “estimated 375 highly supportive housing units,” providing temporary shelter for those hoping to transition into more permanent housing.

The focus of the new sites is on treatment and recovery. There will be no supervised drug consumption or needle exchange programs on site.

However, the November memo from Etches and Freire said there would still be a need for supervised consumption sites in Ottawa.

“Open substance use in public spaces in Ottawa will continue unless people have somewhere safer to use substances, whether inhaling or injecting, and unless people have access to mental health and addictions treatment when they need it,” the memo read. “Ottawa Public Health is committed to ensuring that people who rely on supervised consumptions and treatment services continue to receive the support they need.”

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