Sinceri Senior Living has exploded with growth in the last five years, going from 37 communities in 2020 to 138 today.
The Vancouver, Washington-based operator has hit the accelerator on expansion through third party management contracts, with plans to continue growing looking ahead. Earlier this month, took an additional 38 communities into its portfolio after Diversified Healthcare Trust (Nasdaq: DHC) transitioned 116 communities formerly managed by AlerisLife.
To help prepare for continued growth, the company bolstered its leadership teams in April with a flurry of promotions.
“We’ve been setting the stage for growth,” Belford told Senior Housing News. “The promotions themselves recognized our talent and got them in a better position for the growth we envision for ourselves.”
While the goal isn’t to grow as large as the current largest senior living operator in the U.S., Brookdale, Belford envisions more growth ahead provided it does not stretch the company’s staff and operations teams too thin. Although newly onboarded communities usually bring the average down, Sinceri has notched an 85% average occupancy across its portfolio this year.
Alongside management contracts, the operator is acquiring additional assets “where it makes sense,” according to Belford. Sinceri owns and operates around a quarter of its total portfolio. In 2026, the first baby boomers begin turning 80, and Belford believes that demand will propel the company to even better operational outcomes ahead.
“We see the roadway ahead of us as really rosy,” Belford said. “We’re just going to be a company that looks at the opportunity and flexes where we need to in order to continue the success we’ve had.”
Focusing on growth
Alongside working with real estate investment trusts (REITs) like Diversified Healthcare Trust, Sinceri is a “big player” with Ventas (NYSE: VTR). In mid-2024, it took on seven properties the REIT had acquired.
Sinceri’s growth with the Chicago-based REIT stems from sharing mutual interests in “creating value,” Belford said.
“With the expansion that we’ve had, we’ve been able to invest back into the operating platform,” he said.
Belford is stewarding value creation at Sinceri through expanded resident engagement, such as a partnership with senior living software platform LifeLoop to increase communication efforts and improve the company’s culinary programs.
Sinceri is expanding within its current footprint of 26 states, primarily via new management opportunities. But Belford noted the company will also continue to acquire communities where it makes sense to do so.
“I can’t say that we would not look at Hawaii, for example. If there’s another state out there that is an opportunity for us, we’ll certainly look at that,” he said.
As it grows, Sinceri also is leaning on its larger partners like Access Industries, a New York-based investment firm that in 2019 bought a majority stake in JEA Senior Living, the operator that later rebranded as Sinceri. The two companies are chasing deals where Sinceri can own a portion of the real estate.
In 2025, senior living investors are more choosy about where they put their dollars, with many opting for smaller deals than in years past. Some are opting to create value-add portfolios in piecemeal by picking off single communities or acquiring smaller portfolios. And indeed, Belford said Sinceri has its collective eye on smaller portfolios, especially communities with larger buildings and multiple service lines.
“We’re not going to limit ourselves, but certainly we’re going to kind of sit back with what we have right now and then just continue to look for opportunities,” Belford said.
Big, but not too big
Senior living operators must balance scale with quality of services if they want to be successful. Growing too large, too quickly has sunk senior living companies in the past.
Belford said he is well-aware of the risks of spreading operations too thin while losing connections with residents at the community-level.
“When you’re too big and you’re not recognizing that you’re no longer creating that value that you see, then you’re too big,” he said.
To help maintain the quality of its communities, the company has shifted to promoting resident engagement and building up its staff culture to reduce turnover rates among staff. As a result, Sinceri has decreased turnover to its lowest level since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, Belford said.
Sinceri achieved that decrease by creating a more collaborative working environment, practice referred to as “collaborative team management,” where “everybody owns the business together,” leading to finding solutions to problems that arise together, according to Belford.
Sinceri ran into obstacles implementing the practice including the fact that some team members were reluctant to share dissenting opinions and would often defer their opinion to that of regional leadership. The result was missed warning signs and costly mistakes, Belford said.
To overcome this, the company implemented weekly or bi-weekly calls for high-risk communities when needed, formalized agendas and talking points and clearer criteria for resident risk and next steps. The changes resulted in improved collaboration across regional and community teams, reduced move-outs and created “an environment where team members felt safe to challenge assumptions,” Belford said.
He added: “When our team members feel heard, and we help find solutions for them, I think they feel valued and want to continue to work with us.”
Looking to the coming years, Belford said the road ahead appears rosy with the coming demand and the improving relationships with ownership groups.
“The fundamentals of senior housing are looking really good, and we’re just going to be a company that looks at the opportunity flexes where we need to in order to continue the success we’ve had,” Belford said. “I think senior housing is in a really good spot right now.”
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