MPP Ross Romano announced on Monday that Sault Ste. Marie and Blind River will get Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment hubs.
One will be offered through Canadian Mental Health Association at the Community Resource Health Centre at 721 Wellington St. E. (former Sacred Heart Catholic School), and the other will be offered by Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services for people in Blind River and other First Nations.
For Romano, it was a bittersweet day since it was his final announcement as MPP for Sault Ste. Marie.
“I’m excited about the impact. It’s one of the files that you don’t want to celebrate wins because they’re not wins . . . we have a tremendous problem, there is no one solution.
“You have to really take a methodical approach. A financial contribution alone isn’t going to do it, you have to know how to target your investments to really focus them,” he said on Monday after the announcement.
Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker called it a spectacular announcement.
“We are in desperate need of more services to help bring our statistics down related to overdoses, deaths, and hospitalizations. No matter what we tried, nothing was working,” Shoemaker said.
“We opened the youth wellness house - stats were still high, we opened the Community Resource Centre - stats were still high, we opened the Northway Recovery Centre - stats were still high.”
Shoemaker said it took a commitment from partner agencies that are well-funded to tackle the growing problems in Sault Ste. Marie.
“This is what the province put before us. We applied, we had all these agencies supporting our efforts, 13 in total, SOYA, the hospital, etc,” and the city was approved.
“This is an evidence-based decision that was made to help us tackle the challenges we’re facing. Number of changes at community resource centre so services can be provided there,” Shoemaker said.
He believes the HART hubs will open by the end of this year or the start of next year.
For Annette Katajamaki, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association of Algoma, getting to work on the HART hub is the “icing on the cake” for her before she retires.
“I’m ecstatic,” she said.
“I’m retiring after 40 years here. This is the icing on the cake for me to know this is coming and to be able to help with the implementation.”
Katajamaki described the HART hub as a one-stop shop for anyone who is experiencing homelessness, substance use, addictions, or mental health concerns.
She estimated that thousands of people will receive better support when the hubs open and said it will be extraordinarily beneficial for people in need.
There will also be a mobile outreach bus similar to the community wellness bus, offering care to people throughout the city.
Allan Moffatt, CEO of Mamaweswen, the North Shore Tribal Council, called it great news, especially since “our communities . . . have an Indigenous-led HART hub.
“This service will fill an important gap for our members who need to make the journey of recovery,” Moffatt said.
At this point, Romano could not say how much funding will be directed to the two HART hubs.
The province announced on Monday that $529 million was dedicated to creating 27 HART hubs across Ontario while also banning drug injection sites from operating within 200 metres of schools and licensed child-care centres.