How to Fund Home Care Without Selling Your Home or Taking on Debt

You’ve spent decades diligently paying down your mortgage, turning your home into what is likely your largest single asset. It’s the reward for years of hard work. But when health challenges arise and you need it the most, that wealth often feels stuck in the walls and inaccessible.

For the vast majority of Canadians, their retirement years include a specific, heartfelt goal: aging in place. In fact, 91% of seniors in Ontario say they hope to stay in their own homes for as long as possible.¹ You want to remain in the space where you raised your family, in the neighbourhood you know, surrounded by the community you love.

But as we age, the physical and financial realities of staying at home become complicated.

Perhaps you have significant equity in your home but limited cash, living on a fixed pension or RRIF income. This creates a stressful disconnect when you’re suddenly faced with health challenges. How do you pay for home modifications or private care when your monthly income is already spoken for?

This article explains why the traditional options might not work for you and introduces a modern solution, a Home Equity Sharing Agreement (HESA) from Clay Financial, that allows you to access your wealth without taking on debt.

The Caregiving Gap: OHIP Isn’t Enough to Age in Place

We often assume that our provincial healthcare system (e.g., OHIP if you live in Ontario) will take care of everything. While it covers acute hospital visits and doctor appointments, it rarely covers the costs for the long-term support required to stay in your home safely.²

The need for this support is widespread. In 2025, one in ten Canadians aged 50 and older reported needing home care services in the past year.³ If you or your spouse experience a change in health, you often face a dual financial shock.

First, there are one-time investments. These are the big-ticket retrofits (such as installing a stairlift, building a wheelchair ramp, or renovating a bathroom). While strictly necessary for safety, these projects can easily run from $15,000 to $50,000.⁴ Neglecting them creates immediate hazards or leaves large parts of the home unusable, while unlocking the capital to make that investment helps future-proof your independence.

Then, there are the ongoing care costs. The primary obstacle to aging in place isn’t usually the mortgage, but the daily cost of care. Because government support is often limited, you must bridge the gap out-of-pocket, which can be a significant monthly expense.

Consider the math for just three hours of personal support each day: 

• 3 hours/day averages to about 91 hours/month
• At a rate of $30/hour,⁵ that’s a $2,730 monthly expense.

If your pension income is $3,030 a month (the median after-tax income for individual seniors in Canada),⁶ finding an extra $2,730 is a monumental challenge. However, it’s important to frame this expense against the alternative. Private retirement homes or assisted living facilities cost on average $4,000 per month in Ontario.⁷

While in-home care is often more affordable than a private facility, the price tag still remains out of reach for many. Nearly one in four (23%) Canadians 50+ who needed home care in 2025 couldn’t obtain it due to the cost.⁸ For these homeowners, unlocking home equity isn’t just a financial move, it’s the key to making home care viable.

Selling or Borrowing: The Hidden Trade-offs for Retirees

When facing these costs, you might look at your bank account and feel stuck. Traditionally homeowners have considered three different options, but each comes with significant trade-offs for retirees.

While selling your home frees up the most wealth, it is also a measure of last resort for homeowners looking to age in place. It requires you to leave your sanctuary, your community, and your established support system. These are the very things you’re trying to preserve.

With selling off the table, many consider borrowing the money using a traditional secured loan or home equity line of credit (HELOC). These types of debt products require monthly payments, which can create an immediate tension with your goal of aging in place on a fixed income.

Though HELOC rates can be attractive, qualifying for a large enough line can also be difficult in retirement, as your income is typically lower than during your working years. If you are already dipping into your equity because your current cash flow cannot support care costs, adding yet another monthly payment could simply add to the financial stress.

For retirees, reverse mortgages are often presented as the alternative to traditional loans and lines because they don’t require monthly payments. However, they introduce a different, quieter challenge: compound interest, which can erode your home equity over time. Additionally, reverse mortgages are often “all-or-nothing” solutions. They typically require you to pay off and close any existing mortgage loans and HELOCs first, potentially forcing you to give up a favourable interest rate just to access your equity.

Because a reverse mortgage is a loan, interest is calculated and added to the balance regularly. This interest (and the interest on previously added interest) continues compounding into the future. This creates a difficult paradox where the cost of a reverse mortgage grows exponentially based on your own longevity. The longer you live in the home you love, the faster your debt grows, and your remaining equity could be eroding. In a flat real estate market, that compounding interest can quietly consume much of the wealth you intended to leave to your loved ones.

A New Path: The Home Equity Sharing Agreement (HESA)

Protecting your independence is crucial in retirement. You have spent decades building your nest egg, and the last thing you want is a financial product that adds uncertainty or threatens your existing equity.

This is where a Home Equity Sharing Agreement (HESA) from Clay Financial takes a different approach. We’re not a lender; we’re your partner in home equity.

At Clay, we act as an investor in your home alongside you. You can access up to 17.5% of your home’s appraised value (up to a maximum of $500,000) as a tax-free, lump-sum payment (minus our origination fee and the costs of an appraisal and a home inspection). In exchange, Clay shares in the home’s future change in value.

Because this is an equity agreement rather than a debt, there are no monthly payments to worry about, and there is no interest clock ticking against you. Whether you stay for 5 years or 25 years, the cost is not based on time, but simply on the value of the home when the agreement ends.

Most importantly, this structure offers critical downside protection. In a traditional loan, the bank is protected, and you carry the risk. If the market drops, you still owe the full loan balance plus interest, meaning your equity evaporates quickly.

With a HESA, Clay sits on the same side of the table as you. We share in the home’s future value, whether it goes up or down. If the market drops when you sell your home, the amount you pay us drops too.⁹

This aligns our interests with yours. You can age in place without the nagging fear that a compounding loan balance is eating away at your financial safety net. You get the capital you need today, while Clay shares the market risk with you for tomorrow.

HESA in Action: From Renovations to Years of Care

To see how this solution works in practice, consider how a HESA can bridge the gap between fixed income and changing health needs.

Safety-first Renovations

Imagine you’ve had a fall, and your doctor suggests you need a walk-in shower and a stairlift to return home safely. The quote is $60,000. By accessing that amount through a HESA, you can pay the contractors, make your home safe, and continue living independently. You have no new debt payments to manage, and you don’t have to drain your investment portfolio or trigger capital gains tax.

Years of In-home Care

Alternatively, consider a situation where your spouse needs consistent daily assistance. You require a minimum shift of 3 hours per day, creating a new monthly expense of $2,730 that your pension cannot absorb.

Using a HESA, you could unlock a tax-free lump sum of $250,000. By placing that capital into a high-interest savings account or guaranteed investment certificate, you could create a dedicated “Caregiving Fund” that provides over 8.5 years of fully funded care. This liquid capital also provides the flexibility to cover other urgent, uncovered medical expenses as they arise, allowing you to age in place without the stress of monthly bills.

Your Home Should Take Care of You

Ultimately, a HESA is designed for the Canadian homeowner who wants to stay in their home for the long haul but needs to bridge a financial gap to make it happen.

If you want to avoid the stress of monthly loan payments, avoid the tax hit of withdrawing from your RRSPs, and ensure your retirement savings last as long as you do, this partnership may be the right fit. It allows you to preserve your liquid nest egg for day-to-day living, knowing that your remaining home equity isn’t being eroded by compounding interest charges.

You have spent decades paying for your home. Now, it’s time for your home to pay for you. If you are facing upcoming caregiving expenses and want to see how much equity you could potentially access, get your no-obligation estimate from Clay Financial today.

1. Based on analysis by Deloitte in its Future of Aging in Canada Report (2024). ↩︎
2. The scope of OHIP’s long-term care coverage and rate reduction program. ↩︎
3. Based on the NIA’s Ageing in Canada Survey (2025). ↩︎
4. Stairlifts in Canada cost between $5,000 to $15,000. Additional renovations and retrofits to your home can make upfront capital costs steep. ↩︎
5. ComforHome’s estimates for the cost of part-time hourly care and PSW support in Canada. ↩︎
6. Based on Statistics Canada’s 2023 Canadian Income Survey (release May 1, 2025). ↩︎
7. CMHC’s 2021 Senior Housing Survey shows average rent prices for standard space senior housing. ↩︎
8. See footnote 3. ↩︎
9. We do not share in any depreciation if you sell your home in the first 5 years of your HESA. We do share in depreciation if you sell your home after that point (i.e., from the start of year 5 to the end of year 25). Learn more about the cost of a HESA on our website. ↩︎