A new HART Hub in Bells Corners will soon give people facing homelessness and addiction a calmer place to land. Instead of bouncing between emergency rooms and shelters, neighbours will have one door for care and hope on their street. Opening in 2026, the centre will link health services, housing help, and recovery support. Staff will help people rebuild their lives at their own pace. For many West Ottawa residents, it promises a steady place to ask for help.
A neighbourhood health anchor for West Ottawa
The west-end site will be Ottawa’s second homelessness and addictions recovery hub and will sit at 2194 Robertson Road in Bells Corners. The project will be directed by Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre. According to leaders, the new HART Hub will provide prompt, compassionate, and dignified care to individuals with complex substance use needs.
The West Ottawa community has asked for stronger substance use and housing supports for years, and this plan answers that call. The model is collaborative and community-first, with health at the centre. Doors are meant to stay low-barrier, so people can walk in without referrals or perfect paperwork.
Behind the plan sits a simple idea: health care should feel human, not rushed or confusing. When people see familiar faces in a stable place, it becomes easier to share their story honestly. That trust can turn repeated crises into slower, steadier steps toward safety and stability.
How the HART Hub model brings services under one roof
Across Ontario, new recovery centres bring health, housing, and social supports together in one place. In Bells Corners, that approach will guide daily work inside the hub. At this center, the HART Hub will provide on-site substance care, physical care, and mental health care under one roof.
People will be able to see nurses, physician, and counselors without long waits or complex forms. The group will offer quick access to addiction medication, detoxification assistance, and connections to longer-term care. People will get one-on-one assistance in creating a plan that suits them and their schedule.
Since it will be under one chart and one care team, individuals will not need to explain painful stories through multiple doorways. The staff will utilize trauma-informed and culturally-responsive techniques that respect how history, racism, and poverty impact health. That respect will be what brings people back, even when things do not move the way someone intended.
Practical support for people navigating homelessness and addiction
Every part of the centre is meant to solve real problems, not just talk about them. Within the HART Hub, workers will help people apply for identification, income supports, and housing programs that feel like a maze. They will explain options simply and stay beside people through each step.
The hub will serve West Ottawa and neighbouring rural communities, including Almonte, Arnprior, Beckwith, Carleton Place, Spencerville, Kemptville and other rural communities. Individuals can come on their own, with friends, or can arrive through a hospital, shelter, paramedic or other community agency referral. Young people aged 16 or older can also come with a caregiver.
Peer workers with lived experience of homelessness or substance use can exist in roles alongside doctors, nurses and counsellors, and will have the opportunity to share their experience of what made them feel safer and less lonely, and to help build trust. Services will stay inside the building, with clear expectations and no open substance use or loitering on the property.
Why the HART Hub matters for the wider health system
The Ontario government is investing almost five hundred and fifty million dollars to create twenty-eight recovery hubs across the province, including two in Ottawa. Each HART Hub is funded to focus on long-term recovery and housing stability. Provincial rules do not allow drug consumption services at these sites.
In West Ottawa, paramedics will be able to bring non-emergency clients directly to a private rear entrance instead of a crowded emergency room. This quiet route reduces stress and protects privacy. People can swiftly see doctors, nurses, or counselors inside, and they are connected to the appropriate resources that same day.
Health officials anticipate that this approach will relieve pressure on emergency departments and quickly release ambulances. Hospitals can focus on those with an illness or injury that may threaten their lives. The hub will not have harm reduction supplies, supervised consumption, safe injection services, or safer supply; however, it will connect people to supports.
Seven core partners and a wider circle of support
Seven core partners will share leadership of the west-end hub, led by Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre. CAPSA, Montfort Renaissance, Ottawa Salus, Pathways to Recovery, Psychiatric Survivors of Ottawa, and Recovery Care will each bring teams. Inside the HART Hub, they will work side by side instead of in separate silos.
More than twenty supportive partners will stand around this core group, including Ottawa Public Health and the Ottawa West Four Rivers Ontario Health Team. Together they will align housing, mental health, and social services so people are not left to knit together help alone when they are already exhausted.
Ottawa already has one recovery hub at Somerset West Community Health Centre, which moved to this model after its supervised consumption site closed. Lessons from that downtown location will guide decisions in the west end. Ongoing conversations with neighbours will shape how the new site opens and responds to concerns.
A future local residents hope will feel safer and kinder
When the doors open in early 2026, the new HART Hub in Bells Corners will be more than a building. It will show that West Ottawa is ready to meet homelessness, addiction, and health struggles with care instead of distance. For people who have felt turned away or ignored, a respectful space close to home could be a first step. It may open a path toward healing, greater stability, and a safer sense of community.
