NEWS RELEASE

Ontario Breaks Ground on Long-Term Care Home in King City

New home will bring 160 much-needed long-term care beds to the province

October 20, 2023
Ministry of Long-Term Care

KING CITY — Construction is underway at St. Rita at Marylake, a new long-term care home in King Township. This home is one of 67 long-term care home projects fast-tracked this fall with support from the Ontario government’s increased construction funding subsidy. This is part of the Ontario government’s commitment to build more than 58,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds across the province.

“Congratulations to St. Rita at Marylake Long-Term Care Home on their ground-breaking for a brand new home. Our government is fixing long-term care and ensuring we build homes for seniors in the communities they helped build,” said Stan Cho, Minister of Long-Term Care. “Today marks a significant milestone for King City. When construction is complete, 160 residents will have a new, modern and comfortable place to call home.”

The new 160-bed home is being built on the 800-acre Shrine of Our Lady of Grace property that also encompasses a monastery, retreat centre, a Catholic shrine and the world’s largest rosary path. The home is expected to welcome its first residents in late 2025 and will feature design improvements, including larger resident common areas and air conditioning throughout the home. The design is centred around five ‘resident home areas’, each of which creates a more intimate and familiar living space for up to 32 residents, with dining and activity areas, lounges and bedrooms.

Once completed, the home also intends to offer enhanced chronic disease management programs and palliative care services, and will be part of a campus of care. This helps integrate the long-term care home into the broader health care system and ensures residents can conveniently connect to the care they need. Spiritual support for residents and families will be provided by the monastery’s Augustinian Fathers — additionally, the home has proposed to offer culturally appropriate services to the Italian community.

As a result of the government’s supplemental increase to the construction funding subsidy, which was designed to stimulate the start of construction for more long-term care homes across Ontario, 67 projects were approved to start construction between April 1, 2022 and August 31, 2023. This means 11,199 new and upgraded beds are now being built to modern design standards across the province.

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, both now and in the future. 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

• St. Rita at Marylake Long-Term Care Home is a not-for-profit home that will be licensed to and operated by St. Rita at Mary Lake Long Term Care Home.
• As part of its plan to fix long-term care and address sector waitlists, the government is building more than 30,000 net new long-term care beds in Ontario by 2028 and upgrading more than 28,000 older beds to modern design standards.
• 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.
• As of September 2023, more than 43,000 people were on the waitlist to access a long-term care bed in Ontario. The median wait time is 118 days for applicants to be placed in long-term care.

Quotes

“I made a commitment to local residents — that I would work day in and day out to deliver the investments that our community deserves, after years of neglect by the previous Liberal government. While King seniors worked hard and sacrificed to build our community and country, King Township maintains one of the lowest ratios of long-term care beds to residents in the GTA. This is an unacceptable reality, as our seniors’ population rises and as families try to keep their aging parents and grandparents close to home. I am proud to deliver 160 new beds at the St. Rita at Marylake Long-Term Care Home in the heart of King. This state-of-the-art home will support 160 seniors with excellent care and a comfortable place to live in King City, close to friends and family members, local amenities and beautiful natural scenery.”

– Stephen Lecce
MPP for King—Vaughan

“The Township of King is grateful for the support of the government of Ontario and the Augustinian Fathers in making St. Rita at Marylake Long-Term Care Home a reality, which will bring 160 much-needed beds to our community. As construction proceeds, our seniors are one step closer to receiving the long-term care and higher quality of life they need and deserve in King Township.”

– Steve Pellegrini
Mayor of the Township of King

“We are grateful to the government of Ontario and the Ministry of Long-Term Care for providing the additional construction funding subsidy as it allowed our not-for-profit long-term care home to commence construction. St. Rita at Marylake Long-Term Care Home will allow seniors in need of such care and services living in the Township of King, to remain in their community, close to their families and friends. Careful and thoughtful planning will ensure that we protect the surrounding natural environment, proving a modern, environmentally responsible home.”

– Quinto Annibale
Board Member of the Augustinian Fathers