Seniors advocate says B.C. will need almost 16,000 new long-term care beds by 2036

VICTORIA — British Columbia will need almost 16,000 new long-term care beds by 2036 with an estimated price of $16 billion in capital costs to meet the demands of an aging society, the province’s seniors’ advocate says.

Dan Levitt’s report tabled at the provincial legislature pegs the current number of publicly subsidized long-term care beds at 29,595, more than 2,000 beds short of what is needed according to government’s own forecast.

But the report predicts the gap will “grow exponentially” over the next decade to 16,858 beds by 2036.

“So here is the story, we have to build 50 per cent more long-term care beds than exist today to meet the demand,” Levitt said.

If the province doesn’t act, the number of available beds per 1,000 will drop from 58 today to 41 beds by 2036 if they are replaced at the current rate, he said.

He said the current estimated capital cost of a single long-term care bed is $1 million. The figure would put the current price tag for the additional beds at $16 billion over ten years in capital costs, while operational costs would be about $100,000 per bed.

Levitt said the capital costs of long-term care are “increasing dramatically.”

But government finds money for other things in the budget, he said.

“Seniors who require long-term care … deserve to have those beds available to them when they need them,” he said. “It’s less expensive for someone to live at home than it is in long-term care.”

Levitt said the shortage of long-term care beds also costs the overall economy by reducing productivity and raising personal costs.

“So, if you are caring for your aging parents, you are going to miss work, you are no longer going to be able to work at a full-time job, which is going to impact our economy, and our productivity as a province, and it’s going to put financial stress on families,” he said.

Instead of building long-term care, government is “shifting that financial stress to families,” Levitt said.

The shortage of long-term care beds is going to put more pressure on the health-care system at large, he said.

“Once a senior goes into emergency, they will be occupying a hospital bed, which means that surgeries and other appointments that will be booked in acute care will be less available,” he said.

Fewer long-term care beds also put pressure on other parts of the health system, including paramedics transporting seniors to hospitals and family physicians needing to spend more time with seniors, he added.

“If we don’t invest in long-term care, we will repeat the same kind of crisis that we saw with family doctors’ shortages, and with the housing crisis,” he said.

The growing shortage of long-term care beds comes with longer waiting lists and wait-times for existing ones.

The report says the number of people waiting for long-term care beds has risen from 2,381 in 2016 to 7,212 this year, an increase of 200 per cent.

The average wait time for a long-term care bed had almost doubled to 290 days by 2024, according to the report, which predicts those delays will become “untenable” based on current government plans.

While the government says it will add almost 3,000 new beds by 2030, the report says the current system, which “relies heavily on overburdened family caregivers,” is “unsustainable and requires immediate attention.”

The report says that the current plan is “not up to date and does not sufficiently address the significant shortfall” in long-term care beds.

Levitt said government needs to extend its plan beyond 2030 to 2036 to increase capacity, meet growing demand and reduce wait times.

Other recommendations in the report call on government to expand access to a broader range of publicly-subsidized housing options for seniors, review wait-list management and develop wait-time targets.

Levitt has also called on government to develop a detailed action plan by Oct. 1, the International Day of Older Persons.

Conservative member of the legislature Brennan Day said in a news release that Levitt’s report shows a “full-blown system breakdown driven by government neglect.

Day, who’s the critic for seniors’ health, said the NDP government has over-promised and under-delivered.

“Seniors aren’t getting the support they need at home, so they up in the emergency rooms instead, and our hospitals are buckling under the pressure,” Day said.

Speaking at an unrelated event in Kitimaat Village, B.C., Premier David Eby said he welcomed Levitt’s report, that his government shares the concerns and will work with the advocate to implement the recommendations.

“This is a challenge that people have seen coming for a while,” Eby said. “We have an aging population in Canada, and in British Columbia, in particular, that will need long-term care support.”

Eby blamed the actions of previous B.C. Liberal governments for the current situation.

“From 2007 to 2017, there were almost no long-term beds built in this province, which is a shocking thing,” he said. “Since forming government, we have either replaced or added more than 5,500 long-term care beds. We have to add a lot more.”

Eby said the ministry of infrastructure is reviewing ways to deliver long-term care beds more efficiently given the “huge demand” from the public.

“We have to build faster, we have to build more, we have to build it more affordably to meet the demand that is out there.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press