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ONTARIO Budget 2024 💵 Ontario Providing More Funding to Build Long-Term Care Homes ⚕️

Friday, 10 May 2024 10:16.AM

- New funding will help get much-needed long-term care projects built sooner -

The Ontario government is investing $155.5 million this year to help fast-track the construction of new or redeveloped long-term care homes. This funding, through the 2024 Ontario Budget: Building a Better Ontario, is part of the government’s $6.4 billion plan to build 58,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds across the province.

“From escalating construction costs to high borrowing rates, our government understands the financial difficulties many long-term care operators and would-be builders are facing right now,” said Stan Cho, Minister of Long-Term Care. “Extending the construction funding subsidy top-up will help get more shovels in the ground on much-needed projects all across the province.”

The construction funding subsidy was first introduced in 2022, helping get shovels in the ground for 67 projects across the province and resulting in the largest construction campaign the ministry has achieved in a single year. Based on this success, the province is providing the construction funding subsidy for a second year.

Eligible projects that are approved to construct by November 30, 2024 will receive an additional construction subsidy of up to $35 per bed, per day for 25 years. In addition, eligible not-for-profit applicants will be able to convert up to $15 of the supplemental funding into a construction grant payable at the start of construction, to help increase the project’s up-front equity and make it easier to secure financing.

“We owe the seniors who helped build this province a huge debt of gratitude and the dignity of modern, comfortable long-term care facilities,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance.
“Now is the time for us to seize our once-in-a-generation opportunity to build the critical infrastructure that makes Ontario the best place to live, work and raise a family, which is exactly what Ontario’s 2024 Budget is all about.”

The government is fixing long-term care to ensure Ontario’s seniors get the quality of care and quality of life they need and deserve. The plan is built on four pillars: staffing and care; quality and enforcement; building modern, safe and comfortable homes; and connecting seniors with faster, more convenient access to the services they need.

Quick Facts

• Construction costs and long-term borrowing rates have increased significantly over the past few years, making it difficult to get long-term care homes to the construction stage without additional supports.
• More information about funding is available on the Ontario.ca Funding for long-term care home development page. Eligible operators who have worked on advancing their projects through the development process in order to receive ministry approval of construction by November 30, 2024, will be able to access the supplemental construction funding subsidy.
• Building more modern, safe and comfortable homes for our seniors is part of the Government of Ontario’s Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021.
• The province is taking innovative steps to get long-term care homes built, including modernizing its funding model, selling unused lands with the requirement that long-term care homes be built on portions of the properties, and leveraging hospital-owned land to build urgently needed homes in large urban areas.


SOURCE: Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care

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