New homelessness and addiction recovery centre opens in Oshawa

As part of the pivot away from supervised consumption sites, the Ontario government is opening a number of Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs across the province, including one in Oshawa. 

In a news release, the province said the new Oshawa HART Hub, located at 78 Richmond St. W., will offer clients access to clinical, social service and other care providers. The new hub, one of 29 rolling out across the province following the gradual closure of supervised consumption sites, will offer primary care, mental health services, case management for mental health conditions and addictions, case management for income supports, social services and employment, housing resources, and Indigenous services. 

The Oshawa hub will be the second in the region, following the opening of a Whitby hub earlier this year. 

In a news release, the Ontario government said the new hub is part of the province’s $560 million investment to open over two dozen HART Hubs, a move it says will increase public safety while offering support for people experiencing mental health, housing and addiction challenges to achieve long-term recovery. 

Unlike safe consumption sites, HART Hubs do not offer safer supply, supervised drug consumption or needle exchange programs.

In 2024, Premier Doug Ford’s government banned consumption sites within 200 metres of a school or daycare, targeting 10 sites across the province for closure by the end of March 2025.

Most of those sites chose to convert to HART Hubs (the province’s new abstinence-based model) and closed.

The government has since banned the opening of new consumption sites altogether.

The move to crack down on the sites came following the high-profile death of Karolina Huebner-Makurat, a 44-year-old mother of two who was killed by a stray bullet near a safe consumption site in the Toronto neighbourhood of Leslieville in 2023. 

Huebner-Makurat had been walking by the Queen St. E. and Carlaw Ave. clinic shortly after noon when she was shot as a fight broke out between three alleged drug dealers.

In December 2025, one of the men involved in the shooting was found guilty of second-degree murder. 

The Ontario government ordered reviews of 17 consumption sites across the province in the wake of the shooting.

“We are building a stronger, more connected system of mental health and addictions care that better reflects the needs of communities and focuses on lasting recovery,” said Vijay Thanigasalam, associate minister of mental health and addictions, in a statement. 

“The opening of this new HART Hub will ensure that people struggling with mental health and addictions challenges in Durham Region can access support services that prioritizes their path to recovery and strengthen community safety.”

The province said the Oshawa HART Hub is delivering services, with the Canadian Mental Health Association Durham serving as the lead agency. Other organizations involved in the project include the Mission United Program, Mission United Physicians Services, The Back Door Mission, Lakeridge Health Oshawa, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, Durham Community Health Clinic, John Howard Society and the Region of Durham.

The province said HART Hubs will also add close to 900 supportive housing units across the province. 

“We welcome the new HART Hub in Oshawa, where recovery-focused care will connect individuals in need to coordinate, wrap-around mental health and addictions services,” said Mayor Dan Carter in a statement.

“We sincerely thank the Province of Ontario for its significant investment and for expanding the HART Hub network into Oshawa in partnership with CMHA Durham.”

With files from The Canadian Press