Ontario budget adds $1.1B for home care
Posted on March 28, 2026 in Child & Family Policy Context
Source: TheStar.com — Authors: Moira Welsh
TheStar.com – Politics/Provincial
March 26, 2026. By Moira Welsh, Queen’s Park Bureau
Ontario is lagging on its promise to build or upgrade 58,000 new long-term care beds by 2028, although due to the growing demand among older adults for community supports, the budget is adding $1.1 billion to home care.
That doubles the province’s home-care investment in recent months to $2.2 billion, with the same amount added in the fall economic statement — part of what Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy called a “massive transformation” and the “right thing to do.
“I know many, many people who would prefer to age at home so we’re transitioning to providing that home care in the home, so that that health care comes to you,” Bethlenfalvy said after unveiling the provincial budgetThursday.
Housing with supports is a key issue in a province that will hit “super-aged” status this year, when roughly 20 per cent of its 16 million people will be 65 or older.
But that demand for change does not stop at home care, and the budget did not mention innovative ideas such as the wellness hubs in Halton Community Housing or support programs for older people living in condos or apartments called Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities.
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Asked by reporters when Ontario would fulfil its promise of 58,000 new or upgraded nursing home beds, the finance minister did not have an answer. “We’re going to continue to try,” he said.
Long-Term Care Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta told reporters that construction was delayed during the pandemic, and now it is complicated in cities like Toronto by the need by the need to close streets for the work.
“We will be releasing some new strategies to spur construction,” Kusendova-Bashta said.
Still, Bethlenfalvy hyped “out of the box” funding from the Building Ontario Fund, which previously connected “Canadian institutional investors” with construction projects, including a 348-bed nursing home being built at Cherry and Front streets in Toronto by the not-for-profit Rekai Centre Cherry Place.
Rekai Centre Cherry Place received $176.1 million from the Building Ontario Fund last year, and is part of a growing trend toward community connections that offer on-site education to health workers from the nearby George Brown College and health supports to residents of the home and community, including a dialysis centre.
With more than 50,000 people on wait-lists for nursing home beds, the government’s $6.4 billion construction project was expected to alleviate some of that pressure, although there is no word on when its original construction deadline of 2028 will be reached.
NDP MPP Jessica Bell criticized the government for not meeting its construction targets. “We’ve got an aging population in Ontario. Loved ones need a home, a good home for their parents to go into,” Bell said.
Lisa Levin, CEO of Advantage Ontario applauded money for home care, calling it a “meaningful investment in supports that help older adults earlier in their care journey and ease pressure on long-term care and hospitals.”
Donna Duncan, CEO of the Ontario Long-Term Care Association, said the budget, tabled during a “challenging economic and fiscal environment,” shows that the government sees long-term care as a “vital part of the foundation that holds our communities together and protects the people who “live, work and receive care in homes across the province.”
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In 2026-27, the government plans to spend $9 billion on long-term care, and $6 billion on home care.
As of February, the budget said 164 long-term care homes “are either open, under construction or approved to start.” That includes 61 complete projects with more than 4,000 new beds and nearly 4,300 beds that were upgraded to “modern design standards.”
Another 103 projects are under construction or approved to begin, the budget noted in an update of its delayed plan. Those homes represent more than 10,300 new beds and 7,200 that are being upgraded.
Those new design standards will eliminate the old four-person ward rooms that enabled the quick transmission of COVID-19 during the pandemic.
With files from Rob Ferguson
https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/ontario-budget-adds-11b-for-home-care/article_c3246140-481f-49e5-be8b-a37ad64a87bd.html
Tags: budget, Health, Home Care, participation, Seniors
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