A new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub has officially opened in Sarnia.
The HART Hub at the former SCITS building, located at 275 Wellington St., provides transitional recovery beds and offers clinical, social service and care providers delivering mental health and substance use support, primary care, and indigenous support services.
"People can drop in anytime, there's no wait. So I think from a community standpoint, it just makes it so much less complex for people to navigate to get care for a family member, a friend, or, you know, a loved one or themselves,” said the CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Lambton Kent Rhonny Doxtator.
Services at the Lambton HART Hub are in collaboration with the Canadian Mental Health Association Lambton Kent, Bluewater Health, County of Lambton, North Lambton Community Health Centre and the Sarnia-Lambton Ontario Health Team.
The teams will work together to provide services and make it easier for people to access support all in one place.
"There's only 28 of these in the province, and we got one here, and we certainly need it," said Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey. "We hear from people all the time that need help. Now we've got somewhere we can refer them to, we know that they're going to have continuous help all through the whole system."
The HART Hub connects people to a range of different types of treatment and recovery services, including mental health services, addictions care, social services and employment support, as well as transitional housing. Services that were once spread out across Sarnia-Lambton.
"We're expanding existing services and then making sure that they're all aligned. So it's almost like a relay race. We're handing over from one organization to the other, and really drawing on each other's strengths to make sure that the clients have as many resources as they can to be successful," said President and CEO of Bluewater Health, Dr. Paula Reaume-Zimmer.
The Hub operates in conjunction with the drop-in centre on Lochiel Street.
Eight people have been living in the former SCITS building and accessing the HART Hub's support services since November 2025.
"They (clients) have the opportunity to stay up to 18 months. So some of them have said they already have plans, sooner than that. But that peace of mind is that they have up to 18 months, which is just phenomenal," said Reaume-Zimmer.
The HUB is part of the province’s nearly $550 million investment to open 28 HART Hubs across Ontario to improve access to recovery and treatment services for people facing housing instability, mental health and substance use challenges.
