After two years of struggling to find a new home, the AIDS Committee of Ottawa is set to close its Bank Street location and officially reopen at a new location on Dec. 1.
The ACO signed a five-year lease in August to occupy a two-storey building located on 19 Main St. in Old Ottawa East.
Khaled Salam, executive director of the ACO, says Ottawa has the second highest rate of HIV among people who use injection drugs.
The ACO, as a non-profit organization providing free programs and services for people living with or affected by HIV in the Ottawa area, hopes to spread the awareness of its harm reduction program and increase their client base through its relocation.
Sarah Brown, a harm-reduction worker at the Centretown Community Health Centre, says she predicts to see more clients in her office. However, she says the ACO provided an essential service in the Centretown area.
“We will have to wait and see on how distance is going to affect people needing the support,” she says. “But I think it’s a loss for Centretown and it’s going to leave a gap for HIV specific services in our neighbourhood.”
It started when the ACO’s Bank Street lease was coming to an end in 2013 and concerns were raised about that location in a 2012 safety audit by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, leaving the ACO with the decision to renovate its downtown space to meet safety recommendations or find new headquarters.
The safety audit outlined key concerns about the infrastructure at the Bank Street location, such as broken elevators, missing ceiling and floor tiles, dim lighting, roof leaks and space issues.
Salam says the ACO had intended to remain in Centretown and initially signed a lease last October to move into 240 Bank St., a deal which fell through.
“Fortunately, the current landlord at the Bank location allowed us to go month-by-month until we figured out what our next move will be,” he says. “But it was very difficult to find a space that met our financial needs and also allowed us to remain status quo.”
Salam says although distance may be a challenge for clients who live downtown, the new location will be a promising change.
“We are going from a multi-tenant building downtown on the seventh floor to having our own building: a two-level free-standing building with our own lot right by one of the most historical landmarks in Ottawa, the Rideau Canal,” he says.
Salam says he’s already received positive feedback and clients are excited to see new activities being implemented, such as a community garden, barbeques, and walking groups by the canal.
“A good space really enhances the quality of your services and programs,” Salam says.
Salam says people living with HIV are spread across the city and the new location will be closer for some of the ACO’s clients.
“Our new home is only a 20-minute walk and a five-minute drive from our old home,” he says.
Salam says the new location will broaden and strengthen partnerships with other community health-care facilities such as the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre and the University of Ottawa’s Pride Centre.
“You can’t meet the needs of the community without solid partnerships and collaborations,” he says.
Rob Boyd, director of the Oasis program at Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, says the program, which provides essential services for people who live with HIV, already has a strong partnership with the ACO, but also “has a solid base on which to build” now that the ACO has moved much closer.
The ACO’s new location will officially open its doors for World AIDS Day.