ReportONCare™

How to apply for long-term care in Ontario

In Ontario you apply for a long-term care home through Ontario Health atHome, which assesses eligibility, helps you choose homes, and manages the waiting list. Here is how the process works.

Who is eligible

Long-term care is for people whose needs can no longer be met safely at home. To be eligible, a person must:

  • Be at least 18 years old.
  • Be an insured person under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (have a valid OHIP card).
  • Have care needs that require 24-hour nursing care on site, or frequent daily help with the activities of daily living, or frequent on-site supervision for their safety.
  • Have needs that publicly funded community services and other support available to them can no longer meet.
  • Have needs that a long-term care home is able to meet.

Eligibility is based on care needs and safety, not on age or income on their own. Ontario Health atHome makes the determination through an assessment, under the Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021.

How to apply, step by step

  1. Contact Ontario Health atHome at 1-833-515-1234. It coordinates every long-term care application and admission in the province.
  2. A care coordinator decides whether an in-person assessment is needed, then assesses care needs (this can include functional, behavioural, and capacity assessments).
  3. You and the coordinator discuss the options, including whether long-term care is the right fit or whether home and community care could meet the need for now.
  4. If long-term care is appropriate, you choose up to five homes, in order of preference. You can use this site to research each home’s inspection record, beds, ownership, and waiting list first.
  5. Ontario Health atHome completes most of the application with you and adds you to the waiting list for the homes you chose.

When a bed is offered

When a bed becomes available at one of your chosen homes, Ontario Health atHome contacts you and you have 24 hours to accept. If you accept, you have up to five days to move in, and your co-payment begins on the move-in date.

If you turn down an offer or miss the deadline, you are removed from the waiting lists at all of your chosen homes and generally cannot reapply for 12 weeks, unless your circumstances change significantly. Ontario Health atHome can explain how this applies to your situation.

For the official details, see Ontario’s guide to applying for long-term care and Ontario Health atHome.

Related

These guides are written by ReportONCare to explain Ontario’s public long-term care record. Government sources are linked in the text, and the official versions are authoritative. See our methodology.

Last updated June 16, 2026