Tight timeline for London's pitch for provincial HART Hub to address addiction and homelessness

The timeline is short, but London officials are confident in their ability to submit a strong application for a Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub that the province will begin funding next year.

“I think London is one of the best positioned communities based on our experience with the development of our own hub-based system (Whole of Community Response to Homelessness) to be [able] to act quickly on the provincial application,” says Mayor Josh Morgan.

The Canadian Mental Health Association Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services (CMHA TVAMHS) has met the province’s deadline (September 20) to submit a letter of intent to operate a HART Hub in London.

There is now less than a month to submit a formal application by October 18.

The province has yet to provide details about the application process, but the mayor says the $25 million anonymous donation that spawned the Fund for Change will be a critical component.

“We can position this capital money through the Fund for Change to line up with the provincial operating money and really create a really strong application,” Morgan explains.

Mayor Josh Morgan discusses London's application for provincial funding to open a HART Hub (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

In August, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced a plan to open 19 HART Hubs for the homeless. “Learning from early adopters like the City of London. These hubs provide a comprehensive and coordinated approach to treatment.”

The $378 million funding announcement will cover the cost to operate the treatment-based facilities that will offer primary healthcare, mental healthcare, addiction services, transitional beds, supportive housing, and other services including naloxone, showers, and food.

While some of the locations chosen for service hubs as part of London’s Whole of Community Response to Homelessness faced opposition from neighbours, no decision has been made about where the provincially backed HART Hub would be established.

Morgan admits, “I'm not even sure if the location is part of the application or you get approved for the funding and then you determine a location later. There's some questions out there that we still have to have answered.”

Dean Astolfi, Vice President, Supportive Housing & Program Development at CMHA Thames Valley adds, “With our partners, what we're looking at is existing infrastructure, and expanding, stabilizing and attaching the operating dollars that are needed so we can do the work that we need to do.”

Astolfi says more than 2,000 Londoners are experiencing homelessness.

He believes that a HART Hub in London would be able to care for about 80 people at a time when fully operating, “You could be up to a thousand over a year.”

The urgency to complete the application will impact the timeline for the next set of service hubs envisioned by the Whole of Community Response to Homelessness.

Since the local strategy was formally announced in early 2023, only two local service hubs have opened:

• an Indigenous-led Hub at Parkwood Institute operated by Atlohsa Family Healing Service
• a Youth-hub operated by Youth Opportunities Unlimited on the grounds of Victoria Hospital

Morgan says that city hall’s plan to launch another Request for Proposals (RFP) for service hub locations and operators will be put on hold.

An encampment on Dundas Street in the Old East Village (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)

“The Whole of Community Response to Homelessness and our staff are focused on the HART hub application process, so there will be a pause in the release of a procurement process for additional hubs across the city until we've completed that process.”

Approval of a HART Hub in London would not only expand services in London but also allow CMHA Thames Valley to allocate additional resources to support HART Hubs in other communities.

"We serve a region larger than London," said Astolfi. "If this proposal is successful, it will help us better support our partners in Middlesex, Oxford, Elgin, and Huron with their efforts, including other HART Hub proposals."

Morgan says the priority over the next four weeks is, “Focusing on where the money is - and right now, the money that the province is putting forward is in the HART hub system.”