Frustration builds as province delays delivering new homeless hub

A London MPP is accusing the Ontario government of "sitting on their wallets" instead of flowing funds for a badly needed 60-bed addiction treatment hub for London, a facility the province said would be up and running in April but remains without an opening date.

"It's incredibly insulting to promise this money and say it was going to flow on April 1 and then wait three months," said Terence Kernaghan, who represents London North Centre for the NDP. "These are 60 beds that have sat empty. "

The Ontario government announced in January that it will open 18 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs across the province, including one in London.

London's HART hub is to be operated by CMHA Thames Valley Addiction & Mental Health Services out of the Salvation Army's Centre of Hope on Wellington Street. The province has set aside $6.3 million a year for the next three years to operate it.

At a news conference in London in January, Health Minister Sylvia Jones said London's hub would open by April.

CMHA said they're waiting for funding to be confirmed so they can "move forward with hiring and setting an opening date," in a statement to CBC News on Wednesday. The organization is continuing to work on program development and other planning.

A ministry of health spokesperson told CBC News it is continuing work on setting up the 18 new HART hubs in Ontario communities, including the one in London "as soon as possible." Nine other hubs are operating in locations that formerly operated as supervised drug-use sites. Those opened on April 1.

The provincially-funded HART hubs are intended to be a place clients can stabilize and get wide-ranging supports so they can later transition into supportive housing.

The province has given no explanation for the delay or a timeline for when London's HART hub might open.

Kernaghan said he's spoken with people who've been hired to work at London's HART hub but haven't been able to start their jobs because the funding has yet to flow.

"People are waiting in limbo," said Kernaghan. "What do you do when you've been hired to a position and you have to sit and wait when the province won't get off its wallet?"

Kernaghan said he's also concerned the delay in opening could limit the amount of time the hub's services are available, because the funding is slated to end after three years.

"Does this delay help the province's bottom line?" said Kernaghan. "Are they going to continue this for three years from its inception date?"

The delay comes as London remains in the grip of a housing and homelessness crisis with people living in encampments. Many of those who sleep outside suffer from life-threatening addictions.

Chuck Lazenby is executive director of the Unity Project, a shelter in east London that provides housing and support for people who sleep outside. Many of its clients suffer from addiction.

Lazenby said there remains a great need in London for addiction supports, but that starting a new shelter is a complicated endeavour.

"This is a big deal. It's a brand new program, and there's complexities to that," said Lazenby. "There's facilities, staffing, designing programs ... I run an organization and I know how difficult it can be to move as fast as we want to."

Lazenby said she recently attended an information seminar about the hub proposed for London, and said the planning in place for London's hub is sound.

We're under a lot of pressure as a sector to do as much as we can with limited resources.- Chuck Lazenby, executive director of Unity Project

"I know CMHA is working really hard to get things moving and I have all the confidence in their ability to do so," she said.

"We're under a lot of pressure as a sector to do as much as we can with limited resources. Given the scale of the crisis that we're experiencing, it never feels like enough."

In 2023, the City of London announced plans to open as many as 15 hubs under its Whole of Community Response. However last November, Mayor Josh Morgan said he's no longer fixated on that target.

London has opened two hubs, one operated by Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) and an Indigenous-run hub operated by Atlohsa.