Retirement homes and long-term care in Orillia: a guide

Orillia has two kinds of seniors' residences, and they work in completely different ways. Retirement homes are private rental housing with meals and optional care: you choose the home, apply to it directly and pay the full cost yourself. Long-term care homes provide 24-hour nursing care that the province funds: you apply through Ontario Health atHome, wait for a bed, and pay a co-payment for room and board at rates set by the province.

That difference drives the real estate side. A move to a retirement home can be scheduled, so the house sale can be lined up with it. A long-term care bed arrives on short notice, so the house is nearly always sold afterward, often by a family member acting under a power of attorney.

Nothing in this guide is legal, tax, financial or medical advice. It explains how the system works and where to check each rule.

What is the difference between a retirement home and long-term care?

	Retirement home	Long-term care home
Who it suits	People who are fairly independent and want meals, company and some help	People who need 24-hour nursing care or supervision
Who pays	You pay the full cost. The province does not fund retirement homes	The province funds nursing and personal care. You pay a co-payment for accommodation
Who sets the price	Each home	The Ministry of Long-Term Care, same maximums at every home
How you get in	Apply to the home directly	Apply through Ontario Health atHome, which assesses eligibility
Regulator	Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority (RHRA)	Ministry of Long-Term Care
Your legal status	Tenant under the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006	Resident under the long-term care legislation
Waiting	Some homes have wait lists; you choose your timing	Wait lists at every Orillia home; crisis cases go first

The Province describes a third route as well: care in your own home. That is covered in should you downsize or stay.

Which retirement homes in Orillia are licensed?

Every retirement home in Ontario must be licensed by the RHRA, which keeps a public register. On November 10, 2026, the register showed these seven homes in Orillia with a licence status of "Issued":

Home	Address	Licence number
Atrium Retirement Residence	230 Coldwater Road West	N0355
Birchmere Retirement Residence	234 Bay Street	N0026
Champlain Manor Retirement Residence	65 Fittons Road West	N0037
Lake Simcoe MyLife Retirement Living	24 Simcoe Street	N0509
Leacock Retirement Lodge	298 Forest Avenue North	N0242
Sundial Lakeview Retirement Residence	600 Sundial Drive	N0453
Victoria House Retirement Home	190 Laclie Street	N0467

This is a list of what the regulator licenses, not a ranking or a recommendation. Homes open, close and change operators, so check the current entry before you rely on any list, including this one.

How do I check a retirement home's licence and inspection reports?

If you suspect a resident is being harmed, or you have a complaint about a home, the RHRA line is 1-855-275-7472.

What does a retirement home cost?

There is no provincial rate. You pay rent, plus the meals and care services you choose, and each home sets its own prices. The more care you need, the more it costs. The only figure the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada gives is a national one from a 2021 CMHC survey: an average of $3,075 a month for a standard space without high-level care. Treat that as dated background and get current written quotes from the homes you are considering.

Your rights as a retirement home tenant

A retirement home resident is a tenant, and the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 applies under its care-home rules. According to the Landlord and Tenant Board:

• The tenancy agreement must be in writing, and it must say you have the right to consult someone else about it and to cancel within five days of signing.
• The home must give you a care home information package before the tenancy begins.
• "Rent" does not include charges for care services or meals. The provincial rent increase guideline (1.9% for 2027) covers the rent portion in care homes. The Board's brochure sets no limit on how much charges for care and meals can rise, though written notice is required.
• You can end the tenancy with at least 30 days' written notice, and stop care services and meals with at least 10 days' notice.

Confirm the current rules with the Landlord and Tenant Board at 1-888-332-3234 or with a lawyer before you sign.

Which long-term care homes are in Orillia?

Ontario Health atHome's July 2026 list for the North Simcoe Muskoka area names five long-term care homes in Orillia. Bed counts and waiting list numbers below are from each home's page on ontario.ca, dated August 31, 2026.

Home	Address	Type	Licensed beds	People waiting
Trillium Manor	12 Grace Avenue	Not-for-profit, run by the County of Simcoe	122	676
Spencer House	835 West Ridge Boulevard	Not-for-profit	160	593
Leacock Care Centre	25 Museum Drive	For-profit	145	474
Oak Terrace	291 Mississaga Street West	For-profit	94	157
Arcavia Living	640 Atherley Road	New home on the Ontario Health atHome list	Not confirmed	Not published

Arcavia Living appears on the Ontario Health atHome list as a new home offering basic and private rooms. We could not find a provincial listing page with its bed count or waiting list, so ask Ontario Health atHome about it.

A waiting list number is not a queue position. People apply to several homes at once, and the list is ordered by priority category, not only by date.

How do you apply for long-term care?

You do not apply to the home. You apply through Ontario Health atHome: call 1-833-515-1234, or, if the person is in hospital, ask for the hospital's Ontario Health atHome care coordinator.

To be eligible, a person must be at least 18, be insured under OHIP, need things like 24-hour nursing care or frequent help with daily activities, and have needs that cannot be met with the community services available. A care coordinator does the assessment, usually in person, and completes most of the application with you.

Three rules matter for planning:

• You can choose up to five homes, in order of preference. That limit does not apply to someone assessed as needing immediate admission because of a crisis.
• Crisis comes first. People who need immediate admission and cannot have their needs met at home are in the top priority category on each waiting list. Others are ranked below them.
• Offers are fast. When a bed is offered you have 24 hours to accept or refuse, and up to five days to move in. Fees start on the move-in date. If you refuse, you are removed from every waiting list and generally cannot reapply for 12 weeks unless your condition or circumstances change.

If the bed offered is not your first choice, you can accept it and stay on the list for a transfer.

What does long-term care cost?

The Ministry of Long-Term Care sets the maximum co-payment each year, and it is the same at every home, for-profit or not. From July 1, 2026:

Accommodation	Daily	Monthly
Long-stay basic	$70.00	$2,129.17
Long-stay semi-private	$84.40	$2,567.17
Long-stay private	$100.01	$3,041.97
Short-stay	$45.31	Not applicable

Everyone gets the same level of care regardless of room type. Homes can charge extra for optional services such as hairdressing, cable, telephone and internet.

Residents in basic accommodation who cannot afford the co-payment can apply for a rate reduction through the home. It is based on income, not on a fixed threshold, and the Province says someone with no dependants would likely qualify with income under $27,338 at the July 2026 rate. Apply within 90 days of moving in, and renew each year. Semi-private and private rooms do not qualify.

Is there supportive or subsidized seniors' housing through the County?

The County of Simcoe is the housing service manager for Orillia. It keeps the waiting list for rent-geared-to-income housing, including units owned by the Simcoe County Housing Corporation and by non-profit providers, and you apply online through the County. For homeowners, two of the County's rules are decisive: you may not have assets worth more than $50,000, and if you own a house you must agree to sell it within six months of being housed. Someone with real equity in a home will generally not qualify. For questions, the County's general line is 1-800-263-3199.

Separately, Ontario Health atHome can assess people for Assisted Living Services, which the Province describes as more support than scheduled home care visits without 24-hour nursing. Ask about it on the same call, at 1-833-515-1234.

When should the house be sold?

Moving to a retirement home

You set the date with the home, so this works like any other planned move, and downsizing in Orillia covers the timing and the belongings. One difference is that you are moving to a rental, so there is no purchase to coordinate. If the home you want has a wait list, ask how much notice you will get when a suite comes up, and prepare the house in the meantime.

Moving to long-term care

You cannot time a sale to a bed offer. With 24 hours to decide and five days to move, the move happens first and the house follows. What you can do ahead of time:

• Get the paperwork in order now. Find the power of attorney documents, the deed or transfer, the mortgage or line of credit statements, tax bills, and any septic, well or permit records.
• Get a pricing opinion early, so the family knows roughly what the house will net. Start at home value, and use the selling costs calculator.
• Start sorting belongings while the person can still say what matters to them.
• Know who has authority to sign. See the next section.

After a crisis placement

When a move follows a fall or a hospital stay, the house is often left exactly as it was. Secure it, tell the insurer, redirect the mail and keep the heat on. Then take the time to empty it, clean it and price it from real comparable sales before listing.

Can I sell my parent's home under a power of attorney?

In Ontario, a continuing power of attorney for property lets a person (the "attorney", who does not have to be a lawyer) make financial decisions for someone else. The Province lists "maintaining or selling your house" among the things an attorney can do. The Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee says that unless the document restricts the attorney's powers, the attorney can do almost anything the person could do with their finances, including selling property, but cannot make a will for them.

Points to check with a lawyer before you list:

• Read the document itself. It may restrict the sale of the home, name more than one attorney, or only take effect once the person has been found incapable.
• It must have been made properly, while the person was mentally capable, and signed in front of two eligible witnesses. A spouse or child of the person cannot be a witness.
• It only works while the person is alive. A power of attorney ends at death. After that, the estate trustee named in the will takes over; see selling a house as an estate trustee.
• If there is no power of attorney and the person can no longer make the decision, family members cannot simply step in. The Province says the family might have to go to court to be appointed guardian of property, and the Public Guardian and Trustee acts only as a last resort. That takes time, so find out early.

An attorney is acting for the owner, not for themselves, and has to be able to account for what they do. Ask the lawyer handling the sale what they need to see before the listing is signed, and involve them before you accept an offer. If the person in care has a spouse, or the house is jointly owned, raise that with the lawyer as well.

What about insurance on an empty house?

Call the insurer as soon as the house is empty. The Insurance Bureau of Canada says you are required to let your insurance representative know if a home will be unoccupied for more than 30 days. It also recommends having someone check the home every three days in winter to make sure the pipes have not frozen, and warns that failing to do so could result in a claim being denied.

Insurers set their own requirements, and a vacant house may need different coverage. Ask what the policy requires, get it in writing, and keep a log of visits.

Is the sale still tax-free if the owner has moved into care?

Often, but this is one to take to an accountant before you list, not after.

The Canada Revenue Agency lets you designate a home as a principal residence for a year if you, your spouse or common-law partner, or any of your children lived in it at some time during that year. You must report the sale on Schedule 3 and file Form T2091(IND), and a family can designate only one home for each year. If the home was not the principal residence for every year it was owned, part of the gain may be taxable. The CRA's formula adds one year to the number of years designated.

What that means in practice depends on the facts. A house sold in the year of the move, or soon after, is in a different position from a house that sits empty for several years. Renting the house out in the meantime is a change in use, which the CRA treats as a sale at fair market value unless an election is filed. A spouse or child living in the house also changes the answer. Ask the accountant these questions with the dates in hand.

Using the sale proceeds to pay for care

For most families, the house is what pays for a retirement home, or tops up income for a private room in long-term care. A few things to work through with a financial planner or accountant:

• Work from the net figure. Estimate what the sale will leave after commission (which is negotiable), legal fees and any mortgage or line of credit. The costs of selling guide lists each item.
• Compare the net figure with the monthly cost. Use the written quote from the retirement home, or the provincial co-payment rate, and ask how many years the money would last at different rates of return and with yearly increases.
• Investment income counts as income. The long-term care rate reduction is calculated from net income, and other benefits and credits are income-tested too. Ask how investing the proceeds will affect them.
• The attorney's duties continue. If you are acting under a power of attorney, the proceeds belong to the person in care. Keep them separate and keep records.

How Jordan can help

Jordan Rossman is a REALTOR® with Real Broker Ontario Ltd., Brokerage, and has worked in Orillia real estate since November 2014. He can give the family a pricing opinion and a net proceeds estimate early, so the care decision is made with real numbers, and he can work with your lawyer when the sale is being signed under a power of attorney. He can also manage the listing of an empty house so that out-of-town family members are not driving back and forth. Call 705-345-0797 or use the contact page.