Despite optimism over new HART Hub, executive director says lack in supervised consumption services will increase pressure on emergency services, policing, and public spaces
Article by Bethan Bates, KawarthaNOW
With the closure of Peterborough’s Consumption and Treatment Site (CTS) looming, community leaders are voicing their concerns about the potential impacts on service users and the community at large.
“From a service user perspective, you are removing a very important place where they start the foundations of making change to recovery,” said Donna Rogers, executive director of Four Counties Addiction Services Team (Fourcast), in a recent interview with kawarthaNOW.
On March 16, the Ontario government announced it would end funding for seven CTS site in communities that now have a provincially funded Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub, including Peterborough, with a “90-day wind-down period … to give clients time to transition to the support provided by their local HART Hub.”
Closure a result of provincial policy shift away from supervised consumption and harm reduction to treatment and recovery
The decision to close Peterborough’s CTS comes almost two years after the Ontario government’s August 2024 “safer communities” announcement of a policy shift to restrict harm reduction sites and make addiction treatment a priority, banning supervised drug consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and child care centres.
The announcement resulted in the closure of nine provincially funded CTS sites, including four in Toronto as well as sites in Guelph, Hamilton, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, and Kitchener-Waterloo.
At the same time, the provincial government announced a $378 million investment, later increased to almost $500 million, for new HART Hubs focused on treatment, recovery, and housing, and issued a province-wide call for proposals, encouraging the nine closed CTS sites to submit proposals to transition to HART Hubs.
In January 2025, the province announced the nine closed drug injection sites would be transitioned to HART Hubs and also announced additional HART Hubs would be created, including one in Peterborough, ultimately resulting in 28 across Ontario.
A response to the opioid crisis, the Peterborough CTS opened in June 2022 in the former bus terminal at 220 Simcoe Street in downtown Peterborough to provide a safe and medically supported space for people to consume pre-obtained drugs under the supervision of health professionals.
People using the CTS are provided with sterile injection supplies, education on safer consumption practices, drug checking, basic medical services, and referrals to addiction treatment services, housing, and other social services.
Rogers explained that such sites were funded to provide the singular function of offering a safe space and clean supplies for the use of personal illicit drugs.
“We weren’t a drop-in spot, you couldn’t loiter around, and you couldn’t have tents,” she said.
Lack of supervised consumption expected to increase emergency calls and public drug use
Following the closure of the first nine CTS sites, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition tracked calls made to emergency services and visits to the emergency department for opioid-related overdoses.
A release from the Coalition says “Ontario-wide data shows a sharp increase in EMS calls (+69.5%) and emergency department use (+67%).”
Rogers said this data is worrying and representative of the importance of supervised consumption in the healthcare and recovery continuum. For her, it is clear people will continue to need the services provided at the CTS, but the closure will leave them with nowhere to go.
“These uses will happen somewhere else,” said Rogers of the approximate 300 uses per month supervised at the Peterborough CTS.
Furthermore, Fourcast works in partnership with paramedic and emergency medical services to function as an alternate drop-off location for individuals experiencing drug-related medical complications — a service that will also no longer be available when the CTS is closed.
The Ontario government cited concerns about public safety around CTS locations as a primary reason for the closures. However, for Rogers, the real concerns around safety will come after the CTS is closed and a gap in services has been created.
In particular, she said that when the Peterborough CTS is closed, even temporarily, the immediate surrounding area feels the impact.
“If we closed for an hour or two we would notify the library,” said Rogers, referring to the main branch of the Peterborough Public Library, which is located half a block south of the CTS.
Prior to the opening of the CTS, drug-related emergencies were a common occurrence in and around the library. In a report presented to the library board on May 12, library director and CEO Melissa Reddenit noted the library is preparing for the closure of the CTS with several steps related to safety and security.
Rogers also foresees the closure impacting police response and public works as people continue to use, although now in public spaces.
Further, Rogers said a major impact of the CTS closures will be increased costs for municipal policing and public services “downloaded” from the province.
“This is going to be a costly decision on the city,” said Rogers.
HART Hubs do not offer safer supply, supervised drug consumption, or needle exchange programs
Following the closure of the CTS, Fourcast will begin the operation of Peterborough’s provincially funded HART Hub. Peterborough is one of 28 communities approved for HART Hub funding, having secured $6.3 million through a joint proposal between Fourcast and the City of Peterborough.
In its March 16 announcement of the latest CTS closures, the province stated the goal of HART Hubs was to “fund treatment and lasting recovery from addiction, rather than continued public funding of drug injection sites.”
“It’s a philosophical shift — it’s doing diametrically different things,” said Rogers of the HART Hub system.
Like all HART Hubs, the Peterborough hub will not offer safer supply, supervised drug consumption, or needle exchange programs. Eligible activities under HART Hub funding include, but are not limited to, primary care, mental health and addictions services, supportive housing, case management, and drop-in services.
“The HART Hubs are all different,” explained Rogers.
Rogers told kawarthaNOW he Peterborough HART Hub will focus its efforts on providing healthcare and housing supports to residents at the modular bridge housing community on Wolfe Street.
Owned and funded by the City of Peterborough and operated in partnership with the Elizabeth Fry Society of Peterborough (EFry), it consists of 50 modular housing units with 24/7 onsite support for individuals with complex needs that cannot be met at low-barrier overnight shelters.
“The people on Wolfe Street can’t stay at the shelter because they have service restrictions,” said Rogers.
Focus of Peterborough’s HART Hub will be healthcare and traditional and supportive housing
When assessing how to use the $6.3 million investment for Peterborough’s HART Hub, Fourcast and community partners established that their focus should be to establish “long term stable housing, with the appropriate supports, for the people who are the most complex in our community.”
Rogers explained that individuals experiencing chronic homelessness are more likely to have complex physical and mental health needs due to a lack of access to healthcare, ultimately making finding and maintaining housing an ongoing challenge.
“They are some of the most complex healthcare patients you could ever imagine,” said Rogers.
To address the barriers faced by Wolfe Street residents, the Peterborough HART Hub will develop a healthcare team to work in partnership with the existing EFry frontline staff.
In addition to the onsite health team, the HART Hub will operate 50 units of transitional housing for residents moving out of Wolfe Street housing, a further six spaces in supportive housing hosted by the Canadian Mental Health Association – Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (CMHA HKPR) for individuals with acquired brain injuries or a dual diagnosis including developmental disorders, and finally, a six-month “sober living” program for people who are unhoused when entering addictions treatment.
Fourcast is also working in collaboration with One City Peterborough to use newly built, single-occupant additional rental units (ARUs) as transitional housing units for individuals with complex needs requiring ongoing support.
Recognizing that other municipalities have elected to develop drop-in programs and homelessness response hubs, Rogers said the existence of the Trinity Community Centre operated by One City has allowed Fourcast to take a more targeted approach.
“We already have a homelessness response hub,” said Rogers. “This allowed us to take a laser focus on housing and housing stability.”
Despite optimism about the positive impact of the HART Hub, Rogers said it should not be seen as a replacement for the services provided by the CTS.
“There’s a discussion that it’s a direct trade off, but it certainly is not,” she said.
