Where we can help, and where we can't: Mark Jontz & Associates are real estate specialists, not care placement counsellors. We can help you buy, sell, or understand any property that's bought and sold on the real estate market — including independent-living 55+ communities. For assisted living and residential care specifically, those are licensed care services, not real estate transactions, and the right first call is Interior Health or a specialized senior care advisor, not a REALTOR®. This page is meant to help you understand the landscape so you know which door to knock on.
Independent Living (Real Estate)
This is what our 55+ & 45+ communities and single-level homes pages cover — you buy or sell a home like any other real estate transaction, in a community designed around single-level living and an age-restricted, often quieter environment. No care services are included; residents live fully independently. This is squarely where a real estate team like ours fits.
Assisted Living
Assisted living residences provide licensed support with daily activities — medication management, bathing, meals — for people who need some help but not full-time nursing care. In BC, these residences are licensed under the Community Care and Assisted Living Act. Unlike independent-living communities, assisted living is almost always a rental, monthly-fee model rather than something bought and sold on MLS® — so this isn't a real estate purchase in the usual sense. We've individually researched every retirement residence we could confirm operating across the Central Okanagan — see the full directory below, with real addresses and links to each one's own website. General rental rates across the area commonly range from roughly $2,500 to $5,000+ per month, depending on the level of care and the specific residence.
Residential (Long-Term) Care
For seniors needing 24/7 skilled nursing care, residential care facilities are the next level up from assisted living — heavily regulated, and in BC largely coordinated through the public health system (Interior Health for the Kelowna/Okanagan region) rather than the open market. There's typically a needs assessment and a waitlist process involved. This is entirely outside real estate — Interior Health's home and community care program is the right starting point. Several residences in our directory below (Mill Creek Village, Sun Pointe Village, Smith Creek Village, Lake Country Lodge) include a long-term care wing alongside independent and assisted living.
Aging in Place (Staying Put, With Support)
Not everyone who could downsize wants to. Bringing in home support services — help with cleaning, meals, personal care — while remaining in a current home is a legitimate alternative to any move at all. This is worth considering seriously alongside downsizing, not just as a fallback: for some people, the right answer is a smaller single-level home; for others, it's staying in a family home with the right support brought in.
Affordable & Subsidized Senior Housing
Beyond market-rate options, BC Housing and municipal programs operate income-qualified senior housing in the Central Okanagan. In Peachland, the Peachland Seniors' Support Society operates two BC Housing-funded buildings on 5th and 6th Street — 147 rental units combined for independent seniors and people with disabilities on low-to-moderate incomes. These operate on an application and income-qualification basis, separate from the private market entirely.
There's also a distinct co-operative model worth knowing about: the Central Okanagan Cooperative Housing Association (COCHA) in West Kelowna, a 55+ senior's co-op running since 1974 with 35 units. Members buy equity shares rather than a title (roughly $1,000-$1,500), turnover is minimal (2-4 vacancies a year), and it's not something you'll find listed on MLS® — it's application-based through the co-op directly, not a real estate purchase in the usual sense.