The Windsor-Essex HART Hub opened a year ago this week and is seeing good results. “We’re getting a lot of people the help that they need and kind of giving them a fresh start on life, so it’s been great,” said Kevin Matte, Director of Crisis and Addiction Services at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare. 31 people have finished treatment and are living on their own in affordable housing like the one owned by the city on Ouellette Avenue at Pine Street. 16 more have graduated and are looking for a place to stay. “The whole point of the HART Hub is it’s not just about helping people manage their addiction. If they have that commitment to recovery they get housing at the end. Safe affordable housing,” said Matte, who credits the work done by seven partner agencies that meet every week to go over the needs of each client. He says that teamwork is key with about 200 people waiting for a spot. “We’ve developed services for them while they wait. We have outreach workers attached to the HART Hub and we’re going to shelters,” he said. “We’re trying to set people up with services before they can get in here. How powerful it can be when organizations don’t work in silos.” Matte feels the investment made by the province and Ontario Health is working. “We would love to see it grow,” he added. So would Downtown Windsor BIA Chair Chris MacLeod. “We’re getting some results that are statistically moving us in the right direction, but I think we need to do more,” said MacLeod. There are currently 29 HART Hubs in Ontario funded by the province. Each one gets approximately $6 million to $6.3 million annually. MacLeod would like to see the current model moved into another model, similar to the one being proposed by the City of Windsor, The Village at the Barn. “I think it would be great to be able to integrate that into a larger model where the city and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit and the social service providers are all working out of a combined facility that provides wraparound services,” MacLeod added. MacLeod says services in downtown Windsor are scattered. People get a meal in one place, safe supply in another and methadone somewhere else. “You wouldn’t have somebody go six blocks that way for an x-ray and then six blocks that way for treatment, another six blocks that way for recovery,” MacLeod suggested. The Village at the Barn would put wraparound services and small independent homes inside Windsor Arena. MacLeod says the federal Build Canada Homes program could help pay for it. “Everything they’re (everyone associated with the HART Hub) doing is great. It would be great to integrate that into a larger model,” he said. The HART Hub is a three-year pilot. Matte hopes the province sees value in the results. “I think it’s making a huge difference and what we’re trying to do is provide the data to support the initiative. Hopefully, there’s further investment in the future,” Matte concluded.
