Here's what to know about Greater Sudbury's homelessness and addiction treatment hub

The City of Greater Sudbury has released more information on how it will address addiction and homelessness by creating a new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hub. 

The initiative is part of a $529-million provincial commitment to establish 27 HART hubs across Ontario. It aims to build safer communities and improve access to mental health and addiction services.

Greater Sudbury's hub will be located on Lorraine Street, a site that has faced delays and challenges. It is currently set to open in April 2025. The project has a fixed cost of $14.4 million.

Speaking about the announcement, Deputy Premier and Health Minister Sylvia Jones said, "Our government is helping more people get the treatment and support they need, when and where they need it, by taking the next step to improve access to mental health and addictions services."

Sudbury's HART hub will provide wraparound services, including primary care, mental health and addiction treatment, supportive housing, and employment programs. A team from Health Sciences North will run these.

The facility will house up to 40 people at a time, who will be selected from the city's list of people experiencing homelessness.

Tyler Campbell, director of children and social services for the City of Greater Sudbury, called the funding a "game changer" for the community. 

"It allows us to meet clients where they're at," he said. "It allows for 24-hour supportive housing in place for individuals with their self-contained unit. It allows them to get stabilized and ready for the transition into our community-based housing."

Campbell explained that residents of the hub will stay for up to 18 months and will have access to services such as addiction support, nursing care and mental health assistance.

"There are 40 one-bedroom units within the building and three programming areas that will offer programming for the occupants that reside here," explained Cindy Briscoe, the city's manager of housing services.

Greater Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre praised the announcement, noting that council has been advocating for funding for several years. 

"This part allows us to break that cycle to ensure that we're giving those wrap-around services to get healthier and better, as well as get the skills to be able to reintegrate into the community," Lefebvre said.

The Lorraine Street site has had a troubled history. The transitional housing project faced delays after its initial contractor, Nomodic Modular Structures Inc., declared bankruptcy in October 2023.

Construction halted for nearly two months before Flex Modular was named the new contractor in December of 2023. Adding to the challenges, the city fell victim to a $1.5-million email fraud scheme, though more than $1 million has been recovered through the courts. 

According to Briscoe, the matter is still in front of the courts and the total restitution cannot be revealed.

The province selected Sudbury's HART hub location through a call for proposals last summer. Similar hubs elsewhere in Ontario have shown success in addressing complex needs.

Notably, nine supervised consumption sites in cities such as Toronto, Ottawa and Thunder Bay that are near schools or licensed childcare centres will transition into HART hubs. The hubs will not offer supervised consumption services.

As Sudbury's HART hub nears completion, Lefebvre says it will provide crucial support for vulnerable populations, but he acknowledges the work is far from over. 

"This is part of the solution, but it's not the only solution," he said. "We're certainly happy and we want to recognize the province's efforts in making this happen and that they listened. We've been advocating for this. So we're really delighted to see this move forward. But we're not done."

The HART Hub on Lorraine Street will be one of several such facilities in northeastern Ontario.

The Canadian Mental Health Association Sault Ste. Marie will be in charge of  another hub. Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services will lead an Indigenous-led HART hub with several sites along the north shore of Lake Huron. The cities of Timmins and North Bay are not on the list to receive a hub.