Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Ciena Senior Living, Inc. Q1 2021 Conference Call. Today's call is hosted by Nitin Jain, President and Chief Executive Officer and Karen Hahn, Chief Financial Officer of Sienna Senior Living, Inc. Please be aware that certain statements or information discussed today are forward looking and actual results could differ materially. The company does not undertake to update any forward looking statements or information.
Please refer to the forward looking information and risk factors section and the company's public filings, including its most recent MD and A and AIF for more information. You will also find more fulsome discussion of the company's results and its MD and A and financial statements for the period, which are posted on SEDAR and can be found on the company's website at cienaliving. Ca. Today's call is being recorded and a replay will be available. Instructions for accessing the call are posted on the company's website and the details are posted are provided in the company's news release.
The company has posted slides, which accompany the host's remarks, on the company's website under Events and Presentations. With that, I'll turn the call over to Mr. Jain. Please go ahead, Mr. Jain.
Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our Q1's call for 2021. For over a year, we have taken critical steps to fight the pandemic while providing the best quality of care for our seniors. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all of our team members who have made a remarkable difference by prioritizing the health and well-being of our residents and their colleagues. While COVID-nineteen continues to have a profound impact here in Canada, the 3rd wave has largely spared our senior living sector.
The early vaccinations provided crucial protection for residents and team members. We are incredibly thankful that our sector was made up priority for the vaccination rollout And I encourage all Canadians who have not yet received vaccine to get it as soon as they can. To date, approximately 95% of our residents and approximately 74% of our team members have received their first dose of the vaccine. We address vaccination hesitancy by ensuring our residents and team members are well informed. We engaged our in house medical experts, Doctor.
Moser and Doctor. Maguire to provide additional information through webinars, and answer questions about the COVID-nineteen vaccines. These and other efforts supported the substantial increase in vaccination rates across our long term care and retirement platforms. During the Q1, the number of residences with COVID-nineteen cases and the severity of outbreaks have declined substantially and remain low subsequent to Q1. As of yesterday, we have no active COVID-nineteen cases across any of our residences in British Columbia and 10 residences in Ontario have active COVID-nineteen cases with only 3 active resident cases across our portfolio.
This marks a significant improvement and represents a 99% decline since the beginning of 2021. Moving to Slide 6, the higher vaccination rates helped us in returning to a more stable operating environment, While our COVID-nineteen infrastructure remains strongly in place and includes active screening, on-site rapid testing, elevated staffing levels and a robust supplier of personal protective equipment, certain government mandated restrictions have recently eased as a result of improving conditions. Most notably, the Ontario and BC governments have started to lift restrictions with respect to self isolation requirements for newly admitted residents. In addition, communal dining and recreation activities in residences with high immunization rates are resuming And physical distancing rules are being relaxed, which is so very important for our residents' health and mental well-being. In In Ontario, fully humanized frontline staff are able to work at more than one location, again, to safely support additional staffing capacity across the healthcare sector.
In April, we welcomed Jennifer Anderson into our leadership team to help Ciena's long term care operations. Jennifer is a highly experienced operator known for her focused approach to improving customer and team member experience and optimizing operational performance in our previous roles as Chief of Operations and Service Excellence Officer at WSIB Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. Now moving to our occupancy numbers. Our marketing and sales teams have been working on numerous initiatives to support occupancy, including redesigned sales incentive programs, enhanced outreach and investments in online lead generation. In addition, team members in our enhanced call center With longer operating hours made an average of 1500 to over 2000 outbound calls each week to prospective residents and their families.
All these efforts resulted in an increase in leads and deposits in Q1 and helped support occupancy. Deposits in Q1 have increased by 10% compared to was 78.1% in Q1. The decrease was primarily related to a decline in new residents moving in due to the impact of the pandemic, including access restrictions. Subsequent to Q1, monthly average same property occupancy improved modestly from 77.7% in March to 77.9% in April, reflecting the numerous marketing and sales initiatives offset by the impact of the 3rd wave of COVID-nineteen. Occupancy remains particularly impacted at residences located in COVID-nineteen hotspots, and we expect continued occupancy pressures until mid-twenty 21.
Based on our assumption that restrictions with that retirement residences will continue to ease, We forecast gradual occupancy improvements during the second half of the year, supported by anticipated pent up demand and our continued investments in our sales and marketing initiatives. In our long term care portfolio, average occupancy declined to 80.3 In the Q1 from 97.9% in the same period last year due to access restrictions and capacity limitations in 3 and 4 bed ward rooms. Long term care remains an essential needs service and the demand for long term care beds continue to grow while our waiting list of over 38,000 in Ontario alone. Phase 3 has put tremendous pressure on hospitals and we are assisting these health partners through the safe admission of seniors to available beds in our residences. As admissions accelerate, we expect to reach the required occupancy targets over the next few months.
The Government of Ontario extended its occupancy protection funding for vacancies until August 31, 2021. Excluding the impact of net pending expenses or recoveries, we expect the financial performance of the long term care portfolio in 2021 to be slightly below 2020. Our internal forecasts are based on the impact of new and prolonged access restrictions During the 3rd wave of the pandemic on preferred accommodation revenues, which are not covered by the government's occupancy protection funding and our additional investments to elevate resident experience. While we expect a continued increased level of expenses in the near future, The positive impact of early vaccinations in seniors living, the increasing vaccination rates among the general population and the return to a more stable operating environment All give us renewed optimism. Moving to Slide 8.
Staffing remained Challenging during the Q1 of 2021 as qualified staff is in high demand by sector peers, hospitals and other care providers. As part of our ongoing talent acquisition strategy to attract and retain our highly engaged and seasoned team, we continue to collaborate with Educational and Government Institutions and intensified our social media campaigns. We have also increased our focus on team member mental health, including managing stress, gaining resilience and avoiding burnout. We offer a variety of facilitated and self paced programs In addition to providing resource materials and access to employee assistance programs, our team members have gone through extraordinary lengths during the pandemic and many have made enormous sacrifices for prioritizing the health and well-being of residents and their colleagues. For some of them, this meant moving out of their family homes and into temporary accommodations for extended periods to keep residents safe, sacrificing time with their families, often at the cost of their own mental, physical and emotional health.
Our team members are true heroes whose selfless Actions had a tremendous impact on our residents' lives during the pandemic. Last year, we helped launch the Cares Funds, which provides one time financial grants to eligible employees of long term care and retirement operators in Canada, who are facing extraordinary circumstances amid the COVID-nineteen crisis. Since May of last year, the Fund helped approximately 800 frontline staff with over $2,400,000 in emergency financial assistance. To continue our support for this important initiative, Ciena has made an additional 100,000 contributions to the CARE funds this week, which brings Ciena's corporate and Board of Directors contribution to approximately 700,000 Moving to our focus on diversity and inclusion. Attracting and retaining a talented and diverse team at all levels of organization remains a key objective.
Diversity and inclusion have always been an important part of Ciena And our diverse leadership team is a reflection of our overall workforce. Today, 54% of our leadership team, including 5 of our 10 executive officers and 1 third of our independent board members are female. In addition, approximately 30% of our leadership team, including 3 out of our 10 executive officers, identified as Black, Indigenous or People of Color. We are very grateful for the continued government support that helps us cover some of the extraordinary pandemic With the exception of funding related to accommodation, all government funding is flow through funding, which means it has to be spent entirely on resident care. Any amount that are not spent directly on resident care or pandemic We believe that government assistance programs will help address systematic issues Our sector has been facing for many years, these issues were highlighted in 2 recently published reports.
In April, Ontario's Auditor General issued a report, which included findings on pandemic readiness and response in long term care. This report was followed by the final report of the Ontario's Long Term Care COVID-nineteen Commission, an independent commission investigating the pandemic in Ontario's Long Term Care System. We were able to share our experience and observations during the pandemic with the Commission, whose recommendation to the Ontario government are expected to help and strengthen the future of long term care. Recommendations include the need for additional staffing, enhanced IPAC training, continued prioritization of personal protective equipment, stronger medical leadership, enhanced collaboration with healthcare partners and the urgent need to redevelop and expand homes to meet our growing societal need. The Ontario government has already started to implement a number of the recommended improvements, including additional staffing.
And at Ciena, we have also taken numerous steps recommended by the commission, including stronger medical leadership, increased focus on family communication and enhanced IPAC training. As a mission driven company that puts the well-being and safety of our residents first. We are well positioned and equipped to support the future of senior living. Now moving to our development program. Our development plans include over $600,000,000 in capital investment to redevelop our Ontario Long Term Care Portfolio over the next 5 to 7 years.
Two projects are slated to start later this year, beginning with 160 Bed Long Term Care Home in North Bay, which will be replacing the existing 148 older C Class beds. The capital investment for this development is expected to be $52,000,000 to $55,000,000 with an expected development yield of approximately 8%. Our second project will be announced shortly. We are also making good progress on our joint venture development project of a new retirement residence in Niagara Falls with construction scheduled to start later this quarter. Sienna has a 70% ownership in this 150 suite greenfield joint venture development with Reitman Senior Housing, which is expected to achieve a development yield of approximately 7.5%.
The total budgeted development cost for this Project is approximately $49,000,000 to $51,000,000 Our development and redevelopment plans will focus on sustainability as we adopt environmental friendly designs and install energy efficient features and equipment, all with the goal to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of these homes. In addition, these new residences will support our enhanced infection prevention and control measures and will significantly improve resident and team member experience. With that, I'll turn the call over to Karen for a financial update.
Thank you, Nitin, and good morning, everyone. I will start on Slide 14. Our Q1 twenty twenty one financial results continue to be impacted by the pandemic as we continue to incur an increased level of expenses to support the cost of fighting the pandemic and minimizing the impact of outbreaks. There are various programs and financial assistance provided by the government to to support pandemic related expenses. It is important to note that there can be timing differences between the time of incurring these expenses and the funding of such expenses.
In addition, any amounts that are not spent directly on resident care or pandemic expenses have to be returned to the government. In Q1 2021, we recorded a $9,900,000 recovery of pandemic expenses. This was mainly due to the retroactive government funding of $15,300,000 to recover some of our 2020 pandemic Incurred in excess of available funding in long term care, which is reflected in our Q1's results. Excluding this retroactive funding, the company's total net pandemic expenses for Q1 would have been $5,400,000 representing an improvement of $2,300,000 compared to last quarter. Moving to our Q1 financial results on Our revenue decreased by 2.7% year over year to $161,200,000 this quarter.
Consolidated net operating income increased to $44,300,000 this quarter compared to last year. This was largely the result of the $15,300,000 in retroactive funding I mentioned earlier, which led to a net pandemic recovery in the quarter. Excluding this net pandemic recovery, our consolidated NOI decreased by 9.2% to $33,200,000 this quarter. Retirement same property NOI decreased by $3,000,000 to $12,800,000 in Q1 compared to last year. Excluding net pandemic expenses, Retirement Same Property NOI for Q1 decreased by $2,300,000 mainly due to lower occupancy, partially offset by annual rental rate increases in line with market conditions.
Rent collection levels remain high at approximately 99%, consistent with pre pandemic levels. Long term care same property NOI increased by $10,700,000 year over year. Excluding the net recovery of pandemic expenses, Long term care's NOI for Q1 decreased by $1,100,000 to $19,500,000 compared to last year, largely as a result of lower revenues from preferred accommodation. Moving to Slide 16. Q1 OFFO per share was $0.378 an increase of $0.013 compared to the prior year.
Excluding net pandemic recovery, OFFO per share for the quarter would have decreased to $0.269 year over year, and Q1 AFFO per share was 0 point 3 9 4 an increase of $0.012 compared to the prior year. Excluding net pandemic recovery, ASFO per share for the quarter Would have decreased to $0.2920 year over year. Sienna's AFFO payout ratio was 59% in the Q1. Excluding the net pandemic recovery, the payout ratio would have been 80%. Looking at our debt metrics in Slide 17.
Our debt to gross book value decreased by 90 basis points to 46% year over year, mainly as a result of the repayment of credit facilities. We lowered our weighted average cost of debt by 30 basis points to 3.3% year over year, primarily due to increasing our mix of floating rate And we increased coverage ratio for interest to 4.7x. Excluding the net pandemic recovery this quarter, Interest coverage ratio would have been 3.5 times. Debt to adjusted EBITDA was 6.2 years in Q1 2021. Excluding the net pandemic recovery, debt to adjusted EBITDA would have been 8.4 years.
In terms of our balance sheet, D and L continues to maintain a strong financial position and an investment grade credit rating and ended the Q1 with $213,000,000 in liquidity and an unencumbered asset pool of $840,000,000 Our debt is well distributed between unsecured debentures, conventional mortgages, BMHD Insured Mortgages and Credit Facilities. As mentioned, we expect an increased level of expense for some time, which will continue to affect some of Sienna's key performance indicators, in particular, with respect to the company's operating performance. With that, I will turn the call back to Nitin for his closing remarks.
Thank you, Karen. Looking ahead, we have renewed optimism for our sector and our company. The anticipated economic recovery, the positive impact of early vaccinations in senior living and the return to a more stable operating environment All support the outlook for Ciena. We continue to take many actions to address the rising complexities of care, Staffing shortages and capital needs in the sector, all of which were heightened by the pandemic. In April, we formed the Ciena For Seniors Foundation.
The foundation allows us to raise funds for a variety of important causes in both Ontario and British Columbia. In connection with an enhanced focus on mental health Seniors. Through our work, we see countless fellow organizations who provide amazing programs and services in support of Canadian seniors. By launching the Ciena Fresenius Foundation, we do our best in helping those who need it the most. In In everything we do, we are guided by the belief that it is both a great privilege and a tremendous responsibility to serve Canada's seniors to ensure that they live with utmost dignity and respect.
I'm incredibly grateful for our team's unwavering commitment and compassion to fulfill this important mission. During my visits to more than 30 residences during the pandemic, I've experienced firsthand their desire to do everything they can to provide the highest level of care and services to our residents. I also want to acknowledge the many stakeholders who have supported us through the pandemic, including our residents, their families, sector associations, hospital partners, federal and provincial government and our shareholders. Thank you for your participation on the call today. We are pleased to now answer any questions that you may have.
Our first question comes from Jonathan Kelcher with TD Securities.
Thanks. Good morning.
Good morning, John.
First question, just on the occupancy in the retirement Portfolio, you talked about getting more leads and stuff like that. So based on what you're seeing right now, do you think March will mark the low for occupancy.
I think it's hard to predict. Hi, good morning, Jonathan. It's hard to predict that we disclose our April occupancy is up by 20 basis points and we see positive momentum on leads and deposits. I think it's just too early to predict. It just depends on what happens to the province in both Ontario and BC in terms of opening it up And removing some of the restrictions for access.
So it's too early to predict.
Okay. Fair enough. And then, I guess on the development front, you do have the 1 retirement development going on. Do you see more opportunities on the retirement side? Or do you think you guys will be focused on getting your long term care Facility is the ones that need to be anyways redeveloped.
So at Ciena, we are deeply committed to both sides Our business is long term care and retirement. So we have 2 projects at the moment, as you mentioned, 1 in long term care, 1 in retirement. We are looking at some intensification It is depending on timing. We also continue to look at some campus development at few of our sites where we are building new long term care. We would add either senior apartments or retirement suites there.
And again, we will announce those programs as we get a bit Further ahead. But no, it would not just be long term care. You should see some development from retirement as well, which would include a combination of joint ventures, Intensification, Greenfield and Campus.
Okay. Thanks. I'll turn it back.
Our next question comes from Hamish Gupta with Scotiabank.
Thank you and good morning. So just on the long term care occupancy protection that was extended until End of August. So do you expect any further extension there? I mean, I'm looking at your LTC occupancy is at 80%. So how long do you think it will take to get back to 97% or so?
Good morning, Himanshu. So with respect to the occupancy Protection funding is, as mentioned, has been extended to August 31. And we are seeing gradual admissions from new placements As well as hospital transfers because that support is very important in our healthcare system. And so we are seeing movements gradually and we expect that we will be reaching the occupancy target in the coming months. And so with that, we also see encouraging signs that our vaccination rate has been very high and therefore, limiting outbreaks,
Got it. Okay. And then staying on the LTC funding, obviously, dollars 15,000,000 received with respect to 2020 expenses. So do you expect further recovery here with respect to last year? Because I think there is still some shortfall left to be recovered.
For the $15,300,000 that is based on the Ministry's Review as of December 31. So, no, we don't expect that there would be much more coming related to last We do have still excess expenses on our BC side as the funding programs are different. And with respect to this year, in Q1, we continued to get monthly pandemic related funding. But as we saw, if we exclude the retroactive Government funding of $15,000,000 We did continue to incur expenses higher than our monthly pandemic funding availability. And for us, that's really the focus is to continue to keep our residents and team members safe.
And what I'd With our high vaccination rate and our COVID cases dramatically come down, so has our pandemic expenses Quarter over quarter. And so at this point, it's hard to predict the duration and scope of our of the pandemic and therefore, the Scope and Severity of the pandemic expenses. But we really want to thank you, our team members and residents and their families who have really supported our vaccination efforts and therefore, keeping our residences safe.
Got it. Okay. Thank you. And then just turning to the Niagara Falls Retirement Residence Development. I think the development yield is 7.5%.
What occupancy are you underwriting in that assumption? And how much is the lease up period you're assuming?
So the lease up period is, call it, around 2.5 years and the stabilized occupancy is between 90% to 95%.
Okay. And the development deal includes the cost of land as well?
That's correct.
Okay. Okay. Thank you. I'll turn it back.
Our next question comes from Brandon Abrams with Canaccord Genuity.
Hi, good morning. Maybe just circling back on the long term care redevelopment program. Obviously, it's a big spend over the next 5 to 7 years. Just wondering, if internally you've set any kind of leverage targets, whether it's debt to EBITDA or debt to asset that you'd Be comfortable to go up to. And then maybe just a second question on this point.
Would you be Willing to explore, entertain, joint venture or kind of financial partners to help fund the program.
Good morning, Brandon. On the first one, we have always talked about our debt to book value will be comfortable in the range of 48% to 52%. And with the redevelopment program, maybe we'll be closer to 52. But again, as a reminder, it's to book value and many of our assets I've been on the books since 2010 when Ciena first went public. So from a fair market perspective, it easily would be in the 40s.
And even at the 52% level that we talked at book value will still be in the 40%. So we think it's a pretty conservative way of getting development done and having assets which will have a long period of licensing. From a joint venture, we are always open to finding the right partners and for us it's just not capital. We continue to have good access to capital. What we are really looking for is what's the right partnership model, which is the right thing for the community, for team members, for residents.
As we have talked in the past, we are exploring a joint venture with Scarborough Health Network, which will be the right thing For Scarborough. So as we progress, those are the partnerships we are more interested in rather than just financial ones.
Right. Okay, that makes sense. And then maybe just on the return profile of some of these projects, There's obviously a lot of talk around inflation and cost inflation and commodity prices have increased recently. How do you correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the funding of the new developments Maybe tied to increases in CPI and that type of thing. So how do you see that impacting Maybe the return profile of some of these projects over the next few years.
So there's been This is the first development program after many years, which works for some projects. There's no way to work for all. And that again, we are thankful for the government to make it happen because in the last 6 years, only 500 beds were redeveloped and it was Private, not for profit municipal because the funding program just didn't work for anyone. So it's hard to Predict where we're headed. We go project by project and that's why we are cautious and not coming ahead and talking about projects that which are in the pipeline.
When we get to a stage where we can lock in some costs, get a bit more confirmation from a pricing perspective from our general contractors and vendors in general. That's when we'll come up and talk about development yield. And if costs continue to rise and the funding Doesn't work, then we will have to take a pause. But we understand the government is Active in redevelopment. There's a lot to be done, close to 45,000 beds between what's new and what's current.
So I think it's in everyone's best interest to get going. So it's hard to predict what will happen with inflation and whether the funding would keep up or not, but We are working with the information that we have at the moment.
Yes. No, fair enough. And then maybe just turning to the commission's report, which you Touched on in your opening remarks, it's a pretty lengthy report. Was there, from your perspective, 1 or 2 Recommendations that really stood out that you think would have a kind of a more near term impact on Sienna And how that might impact your operating margins going forward?
Sure. The commission came up with total 85 recommendations. And as the government and all the stakeholders would have To kind of prioritize the top ones. In our mind, really the top one is staffing. We have talked about it for quite some time.
The staffing levels were based on 20 years back or so when people coming into long term care had a very different Health requirements and that has not changed substantially. So if you do only one thing out of all the ones that have come out, which is staffing, which We are pleased to see that the government is already moving to 4 hours of care, which will be an excellent result. I think that will be the first part of the funding for it. The second part is really going to be how you staff that because if you get 4 hours of care And you get additional funding for it, but you can't hire anyone. You would be giving that money back to the government and that's not in the best interest of the residents.
So we need a whole human capital strategy, which is how do we entice people coming into this sector, how does staffing works, Is it related to integration? So I think if we can solve that out of all the things that came out, I think it will be probably have the biggest Impact on the lives of our seniors.
Right. Okay. That's helpful. I'll turn it over. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Joanne Chen with BMO Capital.
Good morning. Just maybe sticking to the Dana unfunded expenses during this Q1, it was nice to see that trend down. Can we expect that To continue into Q2 as well and obviously through the back half of the year when restrictions ease.
Hi, Joanne. Are you referring to the decline in net pandemic expenses?
Yes. It was $5,400,000 this quarter, Down from the 7.7%, you said, in Q4?
So the main difference in Q4 versus Q1 is Attributed to the high vaccination rate. We're very pleased with the high vaccination rate of 95% amongst our residents and 70 4% amongst our team members, and that really has been a game changer and a turning point to the experience at our residences. And because of that, We have fewer residences with COVID cases and much fewer resident cases as well as the severity of those cases has been much lessened. And so we've always talked about the magnitude of our pandemic expenses does largely And on how many residences have COVID as well as the severity of those outbreaks. And because we've had good Outcomes with the vaccination, we were able to, in correlation, been able to maintain a more And I would just say that we're still very much in our 3rd wave.
And so it is still hard to predict What would be that level of pandemic expenses, which is directly tied to a number of COVID cases As the general population is still being vaccinated. So at this point, it's hard to say what would next quarter's Pandemic expenses would be, but we do continue to get monthly pandemic funding from the government in support of that.
Okay.
I get that. That's still helpful. Maybe just circling back to previous question with respect to Achieving that on a long term care side, the occupancy essentially is the target of 97%. Do you think that's something that Could be achieved in 2020 21 timeframe, assuming that things really do open back up In the second half of the year.
So we have been, during the pandemic, depending on which location you're on, which We have been accepting residents to long term care throughout this time. The pace is obviously much more lower than what would be otherwise. When we talk about 97%, it would not include the 3 4 bedrooms. And our healthcare sector is an acute Challenging place. And once COVID is over, there's a backup of multiple surgeries which have to happen.
So I think it's in the best interest of not only health care, but for everyone in general that we find capacity in long term care when it is safe to do so. So for us, it's trying to get to 97% because there is a long waiting list. And for seniors, being in a hospital long term is not The best scenario because that's not a home like atmosphere as a long term care home or a retirement home is, But we are happy to do it safely. So again, I think at this stage, we can continue to work with the healthcare partners. As you might know that Admission to long term care is not owned by any operator.
It's really owned by the community access centers across. So We are working closely with them. We want to support family, support health care partners and want to be and see if we can get to that number.
Okay.
Sorry, Joanne. And just to add to that, the 3rd and 4th sets Remain unavailable because we find that that has been a big challenge during the pandemic management. And also, we've set aside a And so those beds are part of continues to be unavailable and those beds Are not included in that 97% occupancy target. And so that directive to keep those beds unsellable would remain.
Okay, got it. And maybe just one last one for me on the development side for the Class C bed. Could you just Remind me again, the percentage of beds that would be Class C that would fit into that criteria for you guys?
So you're saying how many do we have? Is that what your question was?
Yes. We
have around 2,200 class
Okay. Yes. Okay. No, that's good to help us. And okay.
All right. I will turn it back. Thanks very much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Yash Sankpal with Laurentian Bank.
Good morning. Hi, good morning.
Just a quick question. I'm trying to understand why your long term Clear occupancy continues to go down sequentially, given the kind of demand that is there and It is a necessity based service. So what is driving your occupancy down? Like are you not getting enough patients And if residents from the system or you're not taking new residents?
Yes. So as I talked about admissions into long term care is not really controlled by any operator or owner, it's really controlled Good morning, Cheerio. So yes, the biggest thing has been if a home is an outbreak, as we just talked about many of long term care homes are in outbreak. So that is not a safe time And this is a comp time. And even though the number of resident cases are low, we still have team member cases.
So it's more driven by When is it safe to do so? That's really what is what driving the change. In Sienna's case, because of our There have been locations which are not an outbreak or which are not in areas where there are restrictions. So we have been admitting into long term care homes there. So it's more a factor of when Ontario Health And others think it's safe to do so and in consultation with us.
So it's more to do with that than Anything that an operator or owner would do.
So even if a staff member is positive, they will Not send residents to that home?
Yes. That's again, some public health might be different, but overall that continues to be the case. But If we have more than 2 people who they feel got COVID from a particular location, that home would be an outbreak and There would be no one new resident coming into that home. So that's the case.
Right. Okay. And then I saw that your resident vaccination is quite high, like almost above 90%, but Your staff vaccination levels are still in the 70s. So is there a choice? Do the Members have a choice in terms of getting vaccinated or not?
That's correct. As a country, we have made the decision that it's a choice, it's not mandatory to get vaccination. We have around 75%, Which we believe is really a result of all the work we have been doing in terms of encouraging and education. Similar, our hopes is and our work is to make it as high as possible, but that is one of One of the only ways for it to ever go away. So the rate has been close to 70%.
We have been inching forward 1% percent, 1.5 percent every week. And we are looking internally and talking to other healthcare partners in general to see what else can we do to drive that rate much, much higher.
And is that I don't know. Is it related to the fact that you're not getting enough like there is no staff availability that you are Still allowing people who are not willing to get vaccinated to continue working there?
Yes. So in countries In many other countries, which had access to vaccination much sooner than Canada, 70% is a Pretty good place because there is vaccination hesitancy across the general population. So it's more it's not around obviously staffing is a challenge, But that is that's been across the sector. So it's not that no one wants to make it mandatory because you'll have staffing issues. The governments in Canada have decided it is not going to be mandatory.
So it's hard for individual companies such as us to take a stance. But again, we are looking at other ways to provide incentive and to encourage team members to get vaccination or to be vaccinated.
That's it for me. Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Tal Woolley with National Bank.
Hi, good morning, Nathan Jain. How are you doing?
Very good. Good morning,
I just
want to I apologize if I had multiple conference calls. Just number 1, has there been any net Funding received or expected in for Q2 in terms of reimbursement of prior pandemic expenses.
So our pandemic funding, we still continue to get Monthly allocation. And based on that, our pandemic expenses are continuing to exceed that monthly However, no, we are continuing to report quarterly our pandemic expenses to the government. And based on that information, they will determine if the funding needs to be adjusted. As we saw for last year, that was the reason for the outcome for our quarterly expense reporting that they had Supported us with the extra $15,300,000 of retroactive funding related to 2020 pandemic expenses.
So if I'm understanding you correctly, it's that you're still running sort of in a net deficit Position now and then the hope is over time that, that can be reconciled with the government. So I just but nothing has been you haven't had any sort of outsized Reimbursements or anything to date in Q2?
That's right.
Yes. I mean our approach, Tal, has been that we need to spend what we need to To keep residents and team members safe. And the government has been very supportive for the process for all Owners, operators to cover those expenses. And we know that at the end of the day, we might have a deficit In the short term, but we are okay with that because we know that's the right thing to do.
Okay. And then I think you mentioned earlier, I think it was sort of a question Jonathan had asked that you were Not sure exactly whether March was
sort of
the bottom of the retirement occupancy cycle, but you are in your outlook statement sort of indicating a recovery in the second half. I guess, like what gives you the confidence that you expect a turn
Yes, I mean, our number of leads, I mean, that's usually is a very good indicator. So our number of leads are up versus last year, they're up versus This last quarter, we saw some good things from a deposit perspective. So some of the indicators that we have internally received, We are quite hopeful of the easing of restrictions, where the people are fully vaccinated, the amount of isolation they have to do is changing, Because that has been a barrier for many seniors moving into retirement space. So there are multiple of things, not one which gives us hope that our And she will come up. It's just hard to give specific guidance at the moment and our view is that it will be the second half of the year where we can where we will see some positive Moment and Occupancy.
Okay. And then just pivoting back to the commission report again. So with the report out And the Minister's subsequent comments that seem supportive of a different proposed development model going forward. Are you hearing any commentary yet from the government about how they are looking at green lighting New developments that are currently in the pipeline.
Sure. So there's close to 30,000 wells which have to be rebuilt and another 15,000 which needs to be built just to keep up with current demand and that number is just the build is the first step. I think there will be more beds needed over time. So frankly, there is a need for all sorts of different models and ownership structures to make this possible for seniors. For example, last year, there were multiple announcements where government is investing directly with hospitals and building long term care beds.
There have been announcements from companies such as us, which are building long term care beds, the ones, for example, we announced in North Bay. They're By municipalities and others. So in our view, it will take all sorts of ownership model to solve this And at the end of the day, it's really around ensuring that the people who are providing care, they care for seniors and their fellow team members. That's our culture. We are after accountability and operational excellence.
So for us, we think that's more important than an ownership structure or any capital Stuck you behind.
And is it fair to say though that like if they did decide to move in a direction and let's hope that, that doesn't really take Disrupt anything that's sort of in the hopper, so to speak. Is Sienna open to Doing some of their redevelopments under this kind of split model.
We'll always open to different kind of things It's hard to really comment on that without knowing what that structure would look like. So for us, We have been in the senior living work for 50 years, and we are going to continue to do this work. So if there are different ways of doing it, we would We'll be open to it, but again, it's as the commission has also talked about and we're pretty upfront about it, that it's not about ownership, it's about What is at the core of the company? Are you mission driven? Are you after the care of foreseen is?
And that has really been our mission. So It's not in our view, it's not about ownership. It's about really what you stand for.
Okay. And then my last question, this sort of goes back to the pre pandemic. The government had proposed sort of a big Restructuring of the local health integration networks to the Ontario health team's approach. And I'm just wondering like has that all been completed? And are there any changes that still need to come?
Because I mean, I think that was ongoing just as the pandemic started, and I don't really know how that structure Changed or handled the whole situation?
Yes, it's been ongoing. They've been very active throughout this pandemic working with hospital, working with long term care sector to make it possible. They've been Working through different structure and the combined, what used to be called CCAC and Home Services as well. So I think they're well on their way to kind of put the right structure together to support. We have had multiple calls with them as we're trying to work Leave it at the hospitals and others to ease the pressure on the hospital system.
So no, I think it's well on its way from our viewpoint.
And no big changes then in terms of like how everything how the new Ontario Health team kind of work with the long term care network. It hasn't really affected anything.
No, nothing and in our view will be positive because if long term care is on the table and decision gets made, I think there'll be better For everyone, including long term care. So we think that's a good change.
Okay. That's great. Thanks, Nitin.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Pammi Birg with RBC Capital Markets.
Thanks and good morning. Just maybe along the same lines of the question around the commission's report. I'm just curious, have you actually had any conversations about Your specific projects and perhaps under this suggested model of separating care from construction, Have there been any conversations with the government? And then just secondly, has there been any further clarity on what exactly is meant by mission driven?
So I don't have an answer for the second one. Again, I think they're commissioned at 85 recommendations and they're The ones which are a lot more would have a much bigger impact than just focus on the structure of it and starting being the very first one. We have developed an agreement that we are signing currently North Bay being one of them, which was recent. Many other owners and operators of all different kinds are signing development agreements under the current Structure, so in our view, it's stability is important. We just one project, as you talk about North Bay, it's going to be around $55,000,000 of cost.
And over many years, it will be close to more than $500,000,000 So the more stability, the better. In our view, the amount of demand there is for long term care, There could be different structures possible to get to the end stage. So if there's a different structure, we'd work for a few people like a P3, that's okay by us. From our perspective, we are committed to the way we are developing today and how we provide care. So it's really hard for us to comment on what Might happen in the future, but our current development agreements and our current development plans are predicated on the current structure.
Got it. Just maybe one last one for me and not sure if this was maybe clarified earlier.
Just with the $15,300,000
in retroactive funding that was received in the quarter, Just curious, what's the difference between that amount and the $11,000,000 that you cite as your Q1 adjustment for retroactive funding In your FFO calculation.
So, hi, Pammi. I think that might be an after tax difference Between the $15,000,000 and the $11,000,000 you're referring to that.
Okay. I thought the after tax amount was $7,000,000 relative to the $11,000,000
So I think it's not exactly Sure which number we're referring to, but on a consolidated basis, our net recovery was RMB 9,900,000. So if we take that number and Apply the 26.57 percent to analogous to the $7,000,000 recovery
Okay. Maybe we'll follow-up offline on that one. That's it for me. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
And I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Nitin.
Thank you, Kevin. Thank you, everyone, for joining the call today. And on behalf of the entire Ciena team, I want to thank all of you for your continued support.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's presentation. You may now disconnect and have a wonderful day.