Toronto’s donor-funded consumption sites bracing for fallout of Ontario funding cuts

Ontario is giving seven defunded consumption sites time to transition to its abstinence-based model — homelessness and addiction recovery treatment, or HART, hubs. 

As the Ontario government cuts funding for seven supervised drug consumption sites in the province, workers at three remaining sites in Toronto that don’t rely on provincial funding say they’re worried the move will further strain their resources and lead to more overdoses and open drug use across the city.

The province said Monday it will initiate a 90-day wind-down period to give the seven defunded consumption sites time to transition to the government’s abstinence-based model — homelessness and addiction recovery treatment, or HART, hubs.

It said the move affects two sites in Toronto, two in Ottawa and one each in Niagara, Peterborough and London, with Health Minister Sylvia Jones saying in a statement that the government is “focused on treatment, recovery and safer communities.”

Health-care workers and harm reduction advocates have said the defunding would force these sites to close, leading to more overdoses and deaths.

In Toronto, the move likely means only three supervised consumption sites – Street Health, Casey House and the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site – would remain because they’re donor-funded.

Matt Johnson, an overdose prevention site supervisor at Street Health, says they were “not surprised, but horrified” by the province’s decision.

Johnson says the closure of two sites in the city means Street Health expects to see more people coming through its doors.

“Part of the reasoning behind having sites all over the city was so that no one site would be overly impacted. But if you take a bunch away, it means that the ones that are left have to pick up the slack and they get used more,” says Johnson.