City of Brantford Council unanimously voted to endorse SOAR Community Services’ proposal to apply to be one of the Ontario government’s new HART Hubs, during a Special City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
SOAR Community Services, in partnership with De dwa da dehs nye>s Aboriginal Health Centre, Brantford Native Housing, Grand River Community Health Centre, Brant Community Healthcare System and the City of Brantford, will be taking the lead to submit a proposal for the Brantford/Brant HART Hub project.
“The homelessness and addictions recovery treatment proposal is part of a response from the Ministry of Health to address issues of complex homelessness and substance use within communities across the province,” said Kim Baker, executive director for SOAR Community Services. “It is a three year demonstration project that begins next fiscal year. However, there’s startup and early implementation costs allocated to this fiscal year. The expectation from the Ministry of Health is that these projects would be up and running in winter of 2025 and what we are proposing is a significant enhancement to services related to individuals experiencing homelessness and addictions in our community.”
As far as governance goes for the Brantford/Brant’s HART Hub, the objectives for the HART Hub funding, if approved, includes:
- Expand in-person central access for emergency shelter to 24/7, 365 days a year through augmentation of Emergency Shelter Intake Services
- Provide 24/7 access to basic needs requirements (laundry, shower, hygiene supplies, washrooms, food, water, respite from the elements) for individuals experiencing homelessness
- Implement fulsome shelter diversion to mitigate initial entry to shelter system
- Expand housing case management and system navigation supports offered through the Housing Resource Centre
- Implement 48 new housing placements, including 12 post addiction treatment highly supported transitional beds, 28 individual supportive housing units, and eight (8) individual supportive housing units for Indigenous people
- Implement a HART Hub Interdisciplinary Team, comprised of emergency shelter intake workers, nursing staff, case management, peer support, counselling, employment support, and Indigenous specific supports
- Facilitate access to episodic primary care for individuals experiencing homelessness, and facilitate supported transition to ongoing primary care through GRCHC
- Decrease barriers to access income support
- Augment staffing at the high-volume Brantford RAAM Clinic, to enhance access to addictions medicine, peer support, counselling, and case management
- Expand in-reach work with the local hospital through staffing enhancements to the Rapid Addictions Support Team, who support hospital to community transition for vulnerable people who use substances
- Open two additional addiction beds within existing services, one withdrawal management bed and one treatment, to facilitate triaged access to service for HART Hub clients; and
- Enhance access to Indigenous specific, culturally appropriate care, including housing, addiction, and mental health support.
During the meeting, all ten councillors and Mayor Kevin Davis said they were happy to see the application proposal.
Councillor Richard Carpenter said while there was still a lot of work to be done going forward, he hoped this could lead to a permanent treatment centre in the region.
“First of all, I’d say congratulations to the government for listening because this is, I know this is a pilot, but this really is the right direction. I read said treatment is very rarely successful if there’s no housing attached to it and the individual, after treatment, ended up going back,” said Carpenter. “Once you’re an addict, you’re an addict for life, ..so I appreciate the wraparound services. I’m hoping that this will lead to an actual new treatment centre with housing attached to it.”
Councillor Mandy Samwell added that having wrap-around services and someone to walk alongside those who are struggling, will truly mean something to the community.
“What this means to our community is we’ll finally have true wrap-around services which we have not had in the past and so I’m looking forward to having folks be able to have someone walk alongside them, holding their hand every step of the way, and making sure that they receive the services that they need,” said Samwell. “…With the interdisciplinary team, as well as all of the other things that you’re providing, I’m really thrilled to support this tonight because it’s going to have such an impact on our community, and I look forward to seeing a positive result from your application.”
With only ten HART Hubs available for approval, Councillor John Sless said he hoped that Brantford/Brant would be one of them.
“It’s unfortunate because I think every community in Ontario, in Canada, needs this type of service in their community. The odds are probably stacked against us, I’m an optimist but there’s a lot of communities in Ontario that are crying for this,” he said. “I hope we have a stellar application though If Mary [Musson]’s involved, I know it’s going to be very, very good, I just hope it’s successful.”
Mayor Kevin Davis said that with the application window being so short, he was proud to have social service organizations who were so dedicated and prepared to submit an application.
“They want communities that are ready to respond quickly and efficiently, and aren’t we lucky that we had SOAR who were ready to burst out of the starting block before the government even announced this program,” he said. “ They realized this was likely going to happen and they were ready to do it. I think that they’ve been able to put this together with the other stakeholders, the Grand River Community Health Centre and the others, including our own Social Services Department… and it makes me feel proud of our community, the people and the organizations we have in our community, because we’ve been able to put together an application so quickly.”
The council then unanimously endorsed the proposal, and if approved later this year, the HART Hub would be up and running by February 2025.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
