They were promised refunds. Instead, seniors are still waiting on $15M from a failed development

More than 120 people waiting on roughly $15 million tied up in deposits they paid on a failed seniors complex development will have to wait longer for their refunds after the group behind the project was granted creditor protection.

Charitable organization Trinity Ravine Community Inc. was granted protection from its creditors three weeks ago, citing detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and "skyrocketing" construction costs. The move comes seven years after it announced the Trinity Ravine Towers development  — a two-tower, 605-unit "55-plus Christian lifestyle community" in Scarborough, just east of Toronto.

Trinity Ravine is now going through a court-supervised sale of its assets and development land, which is expected to be complete by the end of August. It says once the land is sold, it intends to pay back those waiting for a refund.

But that means people who purchased life leases with the project will be kept waiting at least another five months for their refunds, despite the organization already missing its promised date for returning the deposits.  

"It's almost criminal," said Lisa Lyn, who's been waiting four years for her $116,000 refund. 

CBC News first reported on Trinity Ravine in December when some life-lease purchasers complained they were getting the runaround when it came to getting their deposits back. At the time, the organization promised refunds would be paid by mid-January. 

While Trinity Ravine is going through Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) proceedings, it can't repay any money and life-lease purchasers can't take legal action, leaving some in limbo and priced out of the already expensive Toronto-area housing market.

"I can't even afford to move anywhere," Lyn said. "It's very devastating." 

Lyn purchased a life lease in 2016. She asked for her deposit back for the first time in 2018 after the project wasn't moving forward. 

A life lease is not ownership, but the right to occupy a unit for a long period of time — often a lifetime.       

Trinity Ravine, which is affiliated with Pentecostal church Global Kingdom Ministries, originally planned for the project to be complete in March 2019. Then, it pushed the date to March 2022. 

It touted a community that would help seniors live independently with programming, social activities and tailored amenities. But construction never began, and the parking lot where it was supposed to be built next to the church remains empty.

Lyn put down a deposit for herself, her mother and grandmother to live in a penthouse. Instead, her grandmother was recently moved into a long-term care home, and Lyn is waiting on her deposit before planning to move.

"It wrecks everything, all your plans," she said.