The City of Detroit Department of Human Services Drug Treatment Program will shut down in February, a victim of city budget cuts after operating for nearly four decades.

The Michigan Citizen reported Dec. 12 that the program, located at the Herman Kiefer Health Clinic, served up to 500 clients who now will have to look elsewhere for help. Officials blamed the closure on declining federal funding of the Community Services Block Grant.

Clinic staff said the closure will mainly affect outpatient methadone patients. Some said that the fact that the clinic was staffed by unionized city employees rather than cheaper contract workers may have played into the decision to close the facility.