The City of Calgary’s resilient roofing rebate program helped homeowners save nearly triple in costly damage compared with the city’s roughly $5.5 million investment, according to an upcoming city report.
The report, coming to the June 12, 2025, Community Development Committee meeting, was the result of a notice of motion from Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal in late 2024 to review the outcomes of the City of Calgary’s roofing rebate program.
The cost-effectiveness analysis was done by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) and showed that roughly $13 million in damage was avoided at the household level due to the number of upgraded roofs installed through the program.
With the City’s $5.425 million investment since 2020, that’s roughly a 2.5-to-1 return.
ICLR said the range of avoided losses was between $7 million and $33 million. The data was derived from insurance claim information, damage surveys, and loss avoidance from the use of Class 4 impact-resistant roofing.
While there was a financial benefit indicated, the analysis showed that there were barriers to program access due to language limitations, upfront payment requirements, housing type restrictions, and the focus on homeowners versus landlords. It also noted geographic disparities, a one-year delay from the initial 2020 hailstorm, and funding for only 660 of an estimated 7,500 damaged homes.
“Future disaster relief and resilience programs should incorporate equity considerations from the beginning, with particular attention to financial accessibility, language inclusion, and the specific needs of diverse communities,” a report on the analysis read.
Coun. Dhaliwal said that the ICLR analysis was just one perspective, which was the avoidance of damage to homes.
“I also want to see from the property tax perspective assessment, if the city does not invest, what would happen to the assessments of those houses,” Dhaliwal told LWC.
“This also means that if this house stays the way it is, the assessment increase year-over-year is so much, which means we’re losing out on a certain delta of the property tax. It’s not spread around other properties to make up for that revenue.”
The need for a sustainable plan to help Calgarians with their roofs
Last month, LWC reported that homeowners in northeast Calgary were facing massive home insurance or deductible increases due to living in certain postal codes that have been prone to hailstorms over the past decade.
Coun. Dhaliwal said some of the report recommendations, like the creation of a hail resilience network with sector partners to help Calgarians make informed decisions on the protection of their homes, are worthwhile endeavours. He said that hail exposure mapping to help inform planning decisions and raise risk awareness could also help.
But it only helps people looking at moving to the area, and not those who already live there, he said.
“Someone who has already bought a house, I mean, they don’t need any more data,” Dhaliwal said.
“They have empirical evidence, a lived experience, where they get hit every second year. This has to be urgent.”
Ward 3 Coun. Jasmine Mian, who has said in the past that the city shouldn’t be in the business of subsidizing resilient roofing, noted the savings outlined in the report are evidence enough for homeowners to make the choice themselves.
“I know that the return on investment for resilient materials and climate-ready materials is good and strong, and that’s why I think residents would make the decision, ultimately, on an upgrade,” she said.
Mian said the City of Calgary’s ideal spot is as a coordinator of efforts rather than as a funder for these programs. She said the city must look at the broader impact on materials such as siding, too. Exploring other options, like low-interest financing options that can be paid back through property taxes is also an option.
“I am happy to see that we’re not moving into more of a funding role, because I think that that is an unending request for funds from folks as we make this green transition that we’re probably well on our way to making,” she said.
Dhaliwal agreed that the future may be in a loan program similar to that of the City of Calgary’s Clean Energy Investment Program, which was expanded earlier this year.
In the meantime, the Ward 5 councillor was hoping for a stopgap solution for anxious northeast Calgary residents—many of whom look skyward as the summer skies darken.
“They’re always living in that continuous fear and anxiety, and they shouldn’t have to,” he said.
“That’s why I was hoping, until we find some sort of mechanism which is sustainable and robust, we backstop it with maybe a program that can help people now, today, with the help they need right away.”
If the recommendations are approved, they will go before a full meeting of Calgary city council for approval.
