This northwestern Ontario town was denied a HART Hub, so it's creating its own model instead
Transitional housing program latest step in Fort Frances's approach to homelessness
Fort Frances isn't getting one of Ontario's new Homeless and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs, but local leaders aren't giving up, instead promoting a strategy of wraparound support for the community's most vulnerable.
The HART Hubs, first announced in the summer, are intended to provide primary care, employment support, and mental health, addiction and social services.
They're replacing a number of supervised consumption sites across Ontario that are being forced to close at the end of March due to new rules saying they cannot be within 200 metres of schools or child-care centres. The legality of the sites' upcoming closures is currently being challenged in court.
Thunder Bay has the only remaining supervised consumption site in northwestern Ontario. Path 525 is expected to be replaced by a HART Hub next month.
Further west, Kenora will also be opening a HART Hub this spring. However, the District of Rainy River Services Board (DRRSB) says its application in Fort Frances was rejected.
"Should another round of HART Hub funding become available for us to apply, absolutely, we'll be applying," said Sandra Weir, integrated services manager with the DRRSB.
"But we still want to keep the concept of being able to have the wraparound services."
One of the ways the DRRSB aims to do this is through the HOPE (Housing, Opportunity, Progress, Empowerment) Transitional House in Fort Frances, which opened in mid-February. The house — a renovated church — consists of six beds where people can stay for up to a year and receive on-site support as they look to shift into long-term housing.
"It's a critical step between stability and self-sufficiency," Weir said of transitional housing. "It provides not only a roof for individuals that are needing some support, but it also gives them access to resources within the community."
The church also hosts the town's Safe Bed program, run by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), for people experiencing a mental health or addictions crisis. In the winter, it houses the Out of the Cold Warming Centre.
HART Hub would be 'money well spent'
The HART Hub model has received criticism for shifting away from a harm reduction approach to addiction, and instead encouraging an abstinence-based model.
Unlike supervised consumption sites, HART Hubs won't allow supervised drug consumption, safer supply or needle exchange programs.
For Weir, what appeals to her about the HART Hubs is how they allow a slate of supports under one roof.
Ninety-four people on the DRRSB's by-name list are known to be experiencing homelessness in the Rainy River district, she said.
While about 19,400 people live across the district, Fort Frances is the area's service hub, with a population of roughly 7,400 people.
Due to its size and the number of people from surrounding communities and the First Nations it serves, the border town faces many challenges when it comes to helping those in need, Weir said.
Andrew Hallikas, the town's mayor and vice-chair of the DRRSB, said he was disappointed when the HART Hub application was rejected, but "that's not gonna deter us."
He said he's hopeful the province will reconsider the community in the next round of applications.
"It really helps if you can concentrate your services in one location and it really helps when you have a number of organizations working together so we're not duplicating services," Hallikas said. "We really think that a HART Hub in Fort Frances would be money well spent."
The DRRSB has renovated the third floor of the HOPE Transitional House, and while it doesn't have funding to expand further at this point, Weir said it hopes to eventually bring more centralized services there.
"We know that with wraparound services, people will get the support that they need in various ways because a lot of times, it's not just about one thing.
"It could be a health-care problem, a mental health problem, an addiction problem — it could be something traumatic that had happened, that they need support from different agencies to be able to move forward and be successful within our community," she said.
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