After years of devastating hailstorms leaving a trail of damaged neighbourhoods in their wake, the City of Calgary is looking at creating a new hail resiliency program.
City administration is recommending the creation of a ‘Hail Resilience Improvement Network’, which would improve collaboration with builders and other partners to develop information and tools for Calgarians on hail resistant home upgrades.
It also calls on investments into Calgary hail exposure maps to help with planning decision and “strengthen advocacy efforts.”
A “Hail Equity Impact Analysis” would also be completed to assess how repeated hailstorms affect socioeconomic inequity in vulnerable communities, which would inform new policies and programs.
“As our weather patterns continue to change, severe hailstorms are expected to become more common, increasing the already high risk for existing homes,” the city said in a report.
“As our city continues to grow outwards, we are also increasing this risk by building more unprotected homes in areas that are historically prone to hailstorms.”
Last August’s hailstorm in northeast Calgary resulted in an estimated $2.8 billion in damage to 58,802 properties.
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According to Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott, who chairs the city’s Community Development Committee, the long-term plan is aimed at lobbying the provincial government to make several legislative changes.
“We’re making sure that we’re putting all the information together, getting the right groups in the room and going to the proper order of government to make sure that resilience is a function of the next building code,” he told reporters Thursday.
The proposed program is the result of a notice of motion from Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal in late 2024, which asked the city to review its former Resilient Roofing Rebate Program.
However, administration is not recommending the resurrection of that program as part of its hail resiliency plan.
That program was created in the aftermath of a hailstorm through northeast neighbourhoods in late 2020, which caused an estimated $1.2 billion in damages, and offered homeowners a rebate of up to $3,000 for upgrading to impact-resistant roofing materials.
Dhaliwal expressed disappointment that a rebate program isn’t in the cards.
“These recommendations are sound and great, but they’re for the future, tomorrow, but not today and the issue is today,” he told reporters.
“The residents in Redstone, Cornerstone, Cityscape, Skyview, Saddleridge, Taradale, how are they going to cope with some of the issues they’re seeing today?”
The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) found roughly $13 million in damage was avoided due to the number of upgraded roofs installed through the program, which cost the city $5.25 million.
The city also noted the rebate structure didn’t address the needs of lower-income households who could not cover initial costs, and language barriers and application complexities created obstacles for some homeowners.
However, a new type grant program could be in the cards.
Administration is recommending the mayor write a letter to advocate the province to create a grant program to help vulnerable, low-income homeowners pay for hail protection upgrades to their homes, or change the Municipal Government Act to allow hail protection upgrades to be part of programs offered through the City of Calgary.
In the meantime, Dhaliwal said he plans to bring forward a “stop gap measure” to help hail-impacted residents sooner when the matter goes to council later this month.
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