What is the Retirement Living Availability Registry?
Elderado – October 22, 2025
When a loved one suddenly needs care, finding a retirement home with space can be stressful. Families often have to make quick decisions, calling around to multiple homes to find out who has availability and can provide the care their loved one needs.
That’s where the Retirement Living Availability Registry (RLAR) comes in.
The Retirement Living Availability Registry is a free online tool that helps families with immediate needs connect with retirement homes with current availability.
Click here to view Retirement Homes with Current Availability on the Registry
Want to learn more? Below is how the Registry is designed to help families and care givers, health care support staff and retirement homes.
How the Registry Helps Families
When families are in crisis, time matters. The Availability Registry lets people:
- Identify retirement homes with current availability.
- Check what type of care is offered — Memory Care, Respite Care, Independent Living, or Assisted Living.
- Compare starting prices to avoid wasting time reaching out to homes that aren’t affordable.
- Contact directly with retirement homes.
This means less time calling, and more time with your loved one.
How It Supports Hospitals and Health Care Providers
Hospitals often have patients who no longer need to be in hospital but can’t go home safely. Discharge planners and social workers can spend hours phoning homes to find open spaces.
With the Availability Registry they can:
- Quickly see which homes have suites available.
- Find options that fit a patient’s needs.
- Help seniors transition sooner to a setting better suited to their condition and needs.
This frees up hospital beds for other patients who need them and helps seniors transition smoothly into care.
How It Benefits Retirement Homes
For retirement homes, the Availability Registry is a simple way to share their availability with hospitals, health care partners, and families in real time.
- Easy sign-up: takes less than 2 minutes.
- Monthly updates: homes get a reminder email and can update availability in seconds.
- Free to use: there’s no cost to participate.
- 27+ community partners already use it to help their clients.
Click here to sign up for the Registry
By sharing their availability, homes can fill empty suites faster and connect with families who are actively looking.
Why the Availability Registry Matters
The Availability Registry connects families in crisis with retirement homes that have availability – helping people in difficult moments. When someone is in hospital or can’t live safely at home anymore, families need clear, simple information to make the best choice.
The Registry:
- Gives families more control and clarity.
- Helps hospitals reduce pressure and free up beds.
- Supports retirement homes in reaching families who need them.
- Makes the system work better for everyone.
While the Availability Registry focuses on retirement homes, it helps ease the strain on long-term care and hospital systems by making existing capacity visible and accessible.
A Growing Network
The Registry started in Durham Region in August 2025 and is expanding across Ontario and Canada. It’s already used by hospitals and community organizations to help seniors find the care they need faster.
As our population ages, tools like the Retirement Living Availability Registry will play a big role in improving how families, hospitals, and care providers work together.
Click here to view the Retirement Living Availability Registry
Click here to sign up for the Retirement Living Availability Registry