Alberta residents, families owed millions in life-lease repayments form non-profit

Karin Dowling goes over an Alberta life-lease repayment document. (Jeremy Thompson/CTV News Edmonton)

Some Alberta seniors and their families who are owed millions of their own money by a housing provider have formed a non-profit entity to better lobby for action.

More than 160 former residents at retirement residences run by Christenson Developments say they're owed nearly $55 million through so-called life leases they signed with the operator.

Many seniors who moved out of Christenson buildings have been waiting in queues for years to be repaid hundreds of thousands of dollars they loaned to the company in exchange for upscale apartments to live in.

The group made up of residents and their families have been pushing for action by Christenson and the provincial government since last fall but recently formed the non-profit Alberta Life Lease Protection Society to put forward a more unified and louder message.

Karin Dowling, the society's president, told CTV News Edmonton that members of the society are pushing for the legislation to be retroactive.

"We're still really involved in these life leases because we have not been released from them," Dowling said.

"We're waiting for our funds, so we are still a part of the problem of the lack of legislation for life leases.

"We want to make sure that that can be heard. We've been told it's not impossible to make legislation retroactive, so we'd like to see the government become creative, think outside the box, come up with a solution, either in the legislation or some other means, in order to assist us in getting our rightful funds back."

Society members are meeting with Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally on Thursday for the first time to discuss their situation.

Nally's office tells CTV News Edmonton that life-lease legislation will be tabled in the coming weeks now that a government review of the practice is wrapping up.

Greg Christenson, president and co-owner of Christenson Developments, told CTV News Edmonton is a statement his company is working behind the scenes to free up the life-lease money for the families.

He said about 170 people are currently in the life-lease repayment queue and that about 400 residents are still on life-lease contracts at the nine Christenson facilities that have them.

Christenson says many of those people want to keep their life leases, though the long queue certainly adds some anxiety.

He maintains that life leases were, at one point, a good model and have saved residents more than $200 million in the decades they’ve been maintained at Christenson.

He said he knows families are frustrated but that the repayment process is slow and that many aspects of it are out of his control as far as timelines.

Christenson said Alberta should set up a life-lease insurance program to help prevent situations like this in the future.