Lack of funding forces closure of YWCA Hamilton supervised consumption site

For nearly five years, a room inside YWCA Hamilton has given people a place to use drugs under supervision, with staff there in case of an overdose.

But as of Friday, that service is ending.

The YMCA says it can no longer afford to keep it running, and now there are questions about where the people who relied on this service will go.

For nearly five years Michelle Markowski, the YWCA Hamilton program manager of harm reduction, has walked the hallway that leads into a room that’s been a safe space for some of Hamilton’s most vulnerable people.

“So this is our safer-use space — this is where people are able to safely consume their substances while being accompanied and monitored by harm reduction staff and peer support workers,” said Markowski.

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But starting Friday, the space will no longer be available.

The program began five years ago with seed funding from the Hamilton Community Foundation.

YWCA Hamilton CEO Medora Uppal says a federal exemption allowed the organization to offer supervised consumption for women and gender-diverse people.

“The exemption expires today, because we no longer have any funding attached to the program,” said Uppal. “It’s been really hard to get funding since the provincial regulations have changed.”

The YWCA says it needs $150,000 to keep the service running for another 11 months.

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“We had to make a decision and without the money we can’t run the program,” said Uppal.

The closure leaves Hamilton without a safer-use space offering supervised consumption.

The city says it will continue working with health and community partners to connect people to other supports and services.

But Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath says the larger crisis can’t be solved by municipalities alone and calls on the province and federal government to step up and solve the crisis.

In a statement sent to CHCH News, the province, meanwhile, says rather than funding supervised consumption, “it’s investing in more mental health and wraparound supports,” including “$560 million for 29 Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs across Ontario.”

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Which it says will, “offer more comprehensive support.”

Effective Friday, people will no longer be able to come to the space to use drugs under supervision.

The YWCA says other harm-reduction and treatment services will continue, but the question now is where do the people who relied on the space go?

Just this year, the YWCA says more than 600 people have used the room, an average of 22 people a night, and in the five years that the program has operated, it says no one has died while using the space.

“The work that has been done here is really transformational,” said Markowski. “We know that people are often supporting one another, and this was our opportunity as a community to come together to show people that they are part of the community and that they are cared for.”

The YWCA says it’s now turning to the community for donations, hoping to raise enough money to reopen the space.

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