Province to sell Oakville land for LTC home construction
The province has announced another deal to convert a parcel of unused government land into a long-term care home.
Long-term Care Minister Rod Phillips was among a group of elected officials to announce the news in Oakville on October 13. The province will sell land on Dundas Street West, adjacent to Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, to Schlegel Villages Inc. The agreement will see the developer build two new long-term care homes in the city.
The new homes, which are expected to be open by 2025, will provide modern, safe, and comfortable places to live for 640 residents, and will offer culturally appropriate services to members of the Hindu and Sikh communities.
“Our government is fixing Ontario’s long-term care system and building new homes like the two that will be built on this site, is a key part of our plan,” said Phillips. “Our government’s initiative to sell unused provincial lands will allow more seniors to stay in their community, close to family and friends, while getting the care they need.”
The Oakville announcement builds on a similar agreement the government announced a day earlier in Vaughan. That deal sees the province sell land on Martin Grove Road to a private company that plans to build a care home for more than 250 residents by 2026.
The sale of the Oakville land is expected to be completed early next year.
“Our community is thankful for the province’s commitment to long-term care in our town,” said Rob Burton, Mayor of Oakville. “For many years there has been a growing need for long-term care in Oakville to support our aging and diverse population. The long-term care beds in North Oakville will lower the wait time for patients that need a more permanent home and will also free up hospital beds for acute patients.”
Both announcements build on the province’s commitment to fix the long-term care sector. The government is making a historic $2.68 billion investment in long-term care development to deliver 30,000 new beds over ten years.
As of May 2021, more than 38,000 people were on the waitlist to access long-term care beds in Ontario. The median wait time for applicants to be placed in long-term care is 171 days.
Featured image: The new long-term care home will be located on a site adjacent to the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. (Infrastructure Ontario)