The Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub has officially opened their doors in Windsor.
The HART Hub is operated in collaboration with Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH), the House of Sophrosyne and the Windsor-Essex Community Health Centre, with support from the Windsor-Essex Ontario Health Team.
These three organizations have partnered with Brentwood Recovery Home, Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), and Erie Shores Healthcare and Windsor Regional Hospital to provide care.
This Hub provides high-quality recovery and treatment services for people facing housing instability, mental health and substance use challenges. HART Hubs connect people to a range of comprehensive treatment and recovery services such as primary care, mental health services, addictions care, social services and employment support.
The Hub is not a new, standalone building, but the services exist throughout a number of organizations, and features 16 treatment beds at HDGH, two beds at House of Sophrosyne, four beds and a charity house at Brentwood with renovations underway for 32 transitional housing units. Meanwhile, CMHA plans to provide permanent housing for approximately 120 individuals a year.
Bill Marra, President and CEO of Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, says it's important to offer a range of services.
"Primary care, so we're connecting individuals to a doctor. We're taking care of their physical health, mental health, getting them out of dangerous, perhaps volatile environments as well, and they're getting the treatment that they need."
He says they put the funding into frontline services rather than a new building.
"We leveraged existing resources so we can put all of our money into frontline. If you look at the hirings that happened across all the organizations, we've hired a total of 41 individuals in full-time and part-time positions. All the money has gone into frontline services, so these are all net new beds... the treatment beds, transitional housing, and the longer term housing... all net new beds."
Marra says there isn't just one group affected by mental health and addiction.
"There's this misunderstanding that it's everyone that they see downtown that's struggling, that perhaps is panhandling... this really is a cross-section challenge. It affects different cultures, it affects genders, it affects ethnicity groups, it affects people who have resources, who don't. This is a healthcare crisis."
On Friday, Vijay Thanigasalam, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, made a stop in Windsor to officially celebrate the opening.
The HART Hub started accepting clients on September 25 as part of "soft-launch".
In January 2025, the province approved an application to establish a HART Hub in Windsor, a model the government endorsed over supervised consumption and treatment service sites.
The Ontario government is investing almost $550-million to open 28 HART Hubs across Ontario.
-with files from CTV Windsor's Bob Bellacicco