Ontario’s health minister Sylvia Jones announced a $378 million investment in homelessness and addiction recovery and treatment (HART) hubs across the province at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario general meeting in Ottawa today.
Ontario's Health Minister admits safe supply policy failure as she reveals alarming increases in violent assaults, crime, and fatalities near drug consumption sites across the provincehttps://t.co/10R46kQiZP pic.twitter.com/KXGDFI0sos
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The minister delivered alarming statistics on the rise of violent crime in the vicinity of existing safe supply and drug consumption sites. “113% increase in assaults near these sites in Toronto compared to the rest of the city,” she said, with “violent crime up 146% near Ottawa sites, and homicide 450% higher near Hamilton’s urban core.”
The surge in stabbings, shootings, and homicides around these facilities has significantly jeopardized public safety and heightened parental concerns.
In response, Ontario will ban drug consumption sites within 200 meters of schools and childcare centers and implement new measures to bolster safety at remaining locations. Minister Jones announced that these measures will include enhanced security plans, policies to deter loitering, conflict de-escalation strategies, and opportunities for community engagement.
The province will also prohibit any new safe consumption sites from “opening or participating in federal so called safer supply initiatives,” explained Jones.
This comes with a monumental $378 million in funding to establish 19 new homelessness and addiction recovery and treatment (HART) hubs across Ontario.
The minister is clear: “this will not include supply safe supply, supervised drug consumption or needle exchange programs.”
Under this pivot, existing drug consumption sites will be allowed to transition into HART hubs, and will be prioritized in the application process.
Jones calls this a “community-oriented solution” that will add 370 supportive housing units to transition individuals into stable, long-term housing.
This move is said to compliment Ontario’s Roadmap to Wellness Plan, with over $3.8 billion allocated over 10 years to fill gaps in mental health and addiction care.
As the Ontario Big City Mayors Association launches a Solve the Crisis campaign and vagrancy, general disarray, disorder, public safety concerns and open-air drug use proliferate on the streets in all cities and towns across Canada, it’s clear that this change in tone – away from enablement and towards recovery and treatment – is a much-needed shift in policy approach.
