The Community Wellness Bus, which offers street outreach and medical service, will move to a 24/7 operation with federal funding announced on Friday.
MP Terry Sheehan made the $3.5 million announcement from the Emergency Treatment Fund in a telephone interview with SooToday.
"The city had applied for emergency treatment funding to combat the the addictions and opioid crisis," said Sheehan.
An agreement with the city still needs to be signed, said Sheehan, but the funding will provide up to $3.5 million for 24/7 community outreach and wellness response and low-barrier access to medical, mental health, addictions, harm reduction and housing supports for the vulnerable high needs population in the Sault.
Sheehan said the funding, part of an overall $150 million envelope through the federal Emergency Treatment Fund, will be provided directly to the municipality.
"It is usually provincial as you know, but we decided this time to directly fund municipalities," said Sheehan.
Currently, the Community Wellness Bus makes scheduled stops during the week to various locations in the city, including the Soup Kitchen Community Centre and the corner of Gore Street and Albert Street.
The $3.5 million in funding will allow that service to be expanded considerably, said Mayor Matthew Shoemaker in an interview on Friday.
"This will provide a vehicle and permanent staff, along with an indigenous outreach coordinator to do this on a full-time, around-the-clock basis and it's really going to beef up our efforts in street outreach," said Shoemaker.
The municipality will receive the funding, but Shoemaker said the Community Wellness Bus will continue to offer a multi-agency response through the Canadian Mental Health Agency, Algoma Family Services and Sault Area Hospital, among others.
Shoemaker said a 24/7 Community Wellness Bus is one of a number of services that have been added in the Sault in recent years.
"We have significantly expanded on the offerings that are available in the Sault for people that have addiction to mental health needs," said Shoemaker.