A city-led hail resilience program received council's support Tuesday, but local lawmakers stopped short of committing any funds toward it for the next four-year budget cycle.

The multi-pronged program was put forward earlier this month, in response to a notice of motion last year from Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal, who asked the city to consider reinstating the Resilient Rooftop Rebate Program that was discontinued in 2022.

Dhaliwal's motion came after his northeast ward was pummelled by a series of supercell hailstorms last August. The hail damaged roughly 60,000 homes in Calgary and generated more than $3 billion in insurance claims, making it Canada's costliest weather event of 2024.

Rather than encourage the reinstatement of a rebate program, city officials unveiled a different approach to support and enhance long-term hail damage mitigation.

The program envisions creating a Hail Resilience Improvement Network to help households make informed home-resilience decisions; and hail exposure mapping to inform city planning decisions and strengthen advocacy efforts.

Administration also proposed conducting a hail equity impact analysis to examine how hail damage has impacted socioeconomic inequity in certain vulnerable neighbourhoods.

Nicole Newton, the city's natural environment and adaptation manager, told council the network would foster collaboration between governments and the different sectors that deal with hail, including the insurance, real estate and building industries.

"(It's about) bringing those all together and having the right conversations around where does each responsibility start and stop and where does it overlap," Newton said.

"We would look to other municipalities and try to figure out other areas in North America and see what fits best with all the players at the table, and ensure we're taking the right strides in terms of advocacy, education initiatives and maybe different incentive programs."

The recommendations also included having Mayor Jyoti Gondek pen a letter to the Alberta government to implement a provincial grant program to support low-income households with their hail damage-related costs.

COUNCIL SUPPORTS PROGRAM 13-1 While he recently argued homes in the northeast require immediate financial assistance in the wake of last year's hailstorms, Dhaliwal supported the proposal Tuesday, calling it an important first step. "I know it's not going to bring some closure to residents who were denied their insurance coverage, whose deductibles have gone up by 100 per cent, but at least this is a first step and hopefully the city can help them moving forward," he said.

Council voted 13-1 to support the program, with Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness the lone opponent. The northwest-area councillor said she was challenged by how the program seemed to focus on the northeast, pointing out her ward was hit hard last August as well.

"As someone whose community was taken out by hail, it's not just a northeast problem," Wyness said.

She also argued hail resilience should fall more under provincial or federal jurisdiction, considering they are the orders of government responsible for insurance regulation and building codes.

"I feel we're doing more of a public relations job than actually impacting the outcomes for citizens here," Wyness said.

"I see where this is walking us and it's not fair to council and our regressive tax model to have to bear the burden of cost."

But although council overwhelmingly supported the program in principle, they rejected one of administration's recommendations in a separate vote. That was to consider allocating future onetime operating investments for the program, to be included in the city's 2027-30 budget cycle.

The recommendation failed in a 7-7 tie. Those in support were Dhaliwal, Gondek, Courtney Walcott, Gian-Carlo Carra, Evan Spencer, Kourtney Penner and Jasmine Mian.

"(Hail) is probably going to be a big part of our future. So having some brains from industry and the city to sit down and really think about what could be a realistic step forward and make that advocacy ask is a very logical step," said Mian, whose north-central Ward 3 was also impacted by last summer's hailstorm.

While the recommendation to allocate funding failed, a city official said after the meeting the municipality is still committed to moving forward on the program, which is designed to deliver practical solutions to support long-term hail resiliency for Calgary homeowners.

"This is an important opportunity to work alongside Calgarians and industry, insurance and real estate professionals to co-ordinate efforts in reducing hail-related damage and costs," said Stacey Rector, the city's climate adaptation team leader.

The failed vote reinforces the importance of showing results early in the program to help secure future council support, Rector added.

Council backs hail resilience plan, but without committing funds to it