New homeless addiction treatment hub opening in Woodstock

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After a flurry of pre-election provincial government announcements Monday, Oxford County found itself on the receiving end of Queen’s Park investments, including a homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) hub and $700,000 for housing.

ADDICTION RECOVERY AND TREATMENT HUB SET FOR WOODSTOCK

At an announcement Monday hosted by Oxford Ontario Health Team at Woodstock Hospital, Oxford MPP Ernie Hardeman said the county is getting a homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) hub, a facility offering supports for people facing homelessness, mental health issues and addictions.

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The province is investing $529 million to create 18 new hubs, for a total of 27 across Ontario, Hardeman. Nine of the locations are existing supervised drug-use sites transitioning to the HART model.

“Each HART hub will reflect regional priorities and include a range of services to meet local needs,” Hardeman said.

Oxford and Woodstock’s hub will be at 16 Graham St., near the city’s core, and offer primary and psychiatric care, mental health and addiction services and emergency shelter among other supports, Hardeman said, adding the aim is for the new hubs to be operational this year.

“Some of you may think that’s a little fast, but the truth is the ones that were addiction sites that are now being treatment facilities are operating and will continue to operate (and) they will meet that deadline,” he said.

NEW HUB WELCOMED

Woodstock Mayor Jerry Acchione enthusiastically lauded the announcement that a hub is opening in the city.

“It’s been a long time waiting for this and the excitement level is amazing,” he said.

Woodstock and Oxford County have been long vying for a facility to address drug abuse in the county and city.

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A proposed supervised drug use site in Woodstock faced staunch opposition from residents when Southwestern Public Health – the health unit for Oxford and Elgin counties, Woodstock and St. Thomas – was undertaking a feasibility study in late 2023.

Any possibility of such a site was laid to rest when Woodstock politicians voted against the facility and the Ford government halted creation of any such locations provincewide after launching a critical review after a woman was killed by a stray bullet near a site in Toronto in 2023.

More recently, politicians announced Oxford County will use $2 million received by Woodstock for surpassing its provincial home building target on a new homelessness service centre.

London, Sarnia and Windsor are among the locations getting new homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs.

$500K FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Oxford County also is receiving $700,000 from Queen’s Park, of which $500,000 is earmarked for affordable housing and $200,000 to address homeless encampments.

“It’s hard to imagine two more pressing needs right now than affordable housing and encampment response,” Oxford County Warden Marcus Ryan said.

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Rebecca Smith, Oxford’s acting human resources director, said the $500,000 will go toward an affordable housing project already under construction. Four units will be added to a building at 785 Southwood Way in Woodstock, for a total of 37 affordable units. The building is expected to be finished this fall, Smith said.

ENCAMPMENT RESPONSE GETS $200K

The $200,000 to address homeless encampments will go toward “outreach and kind of connecting people who are in encampments with appropriate supports, and really getting them on the pathway to emergency shelter services,” Smith said.

A dozen overnight emergency beds will be added at The Inn, an overnight shelter in Tillsonburg, with the funding, she said.

“This $500,000 for affordable housing and $200,000 for encampment response is going to help people in our community in their most desperate need, and help to clear out encampments in our communities’ public spaces,” Ryan said.

bwilliams@postmedia.com

@BrianWatLFPress

The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada

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