The Region of Waterloo received approval from the federal government for its supervised consumption site in downtown Kitchener, according to Regional Councillor Elizabeth Clarke.
She told Global News that the region received approval for both the temporary site and permanent site on Friday. Both will be located at 150 Duke Street West.
Clarke said the next step will be getting funding for the permanent site approved by the province.
“We believe that we have provided all the information and documentation they require and we do expect that the decision there is imminent,” Clarke explained.
The temporary site, which is expected to open in August, will be paid for by the region. Clarke said it is unclear how much the temporary site will cost.
“We have not received the actual budget at this point; there’s just too many questions for us,” she said.
The temporary site is only supposed to be in place until renovations are complete at 150 Duke Street West.
“The temporary site will not have all of the elements that the permanent site has, simply because those are the things that are going to take some time to bring online,” Clarke said.
“The interim site is some focuses on the overdose prevention aspect while we work on getting the treatment pieces lined up.”
WATCH: (Jan. 30, 2019) Reports of needles have dropped since Edmonton’s supervised consumption sites opened