Alberta’s seniors lodges program gets funding boost in 2026 budget

As Alberta's aging population grows, the government is looking to increase spaces in seniors lodges.

Alberta’s 2026 budget sets aside $150 million over the next three years for seniors housing.

Combined with $54 million the province has already committed to six projects, some 1,000 units will be added or upgraded by 2028 with the funding, distributed through the Seniors Lodge Modernization Program.

One such project is a new 102-unit supportive living facility in Spruce Grove, which the government called first of its kind. The units will be available at a subsidized rate.

Officials on Thursday could not, however, say how many of the 1,000 units would end up being new or refurbished spaces.

“People want both,” Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon said.

“What we’ve heard from our lodge providers that we need to step up our investments in making sure that we could either take units that have come offline that needed maintenance to bring them back online, which then would create a new unit, or also to continue to invest to make sure that we didn’t lose that infrastructure.

“This announcement is primarily focused on doing that task, either bringing units on that are going to be offline, or bringing units on that we’re going to come offline, if they’re not invested in shortly, which would add to the overall capital challenges that we’re facing inside both the seniors affordable housing sector, but as well as the continuing-care sector.”

Alberta has approximately 150 lodges, 70 per cent of which are located in rural areas.

The lodge program is delivered by municipalities and the province together. The Alberta Housing Act guarantees lodge spaces are provided at an affordable rate.

“When people have lived their whole life in a rural community, they don’t want to leave. The lodges have provided an option for them to stay there,” explained Irene Martin-Lindsay, executive director of the Alberta Seniors and Community Housing Association (ASCHA).

According to the government, Alberta has 865,000 seniors. The number is expected to surpass one million by 2035.

Applications for funding for other projects will open in the fall, the government said.

Budget 2026 has not yet been passed.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti