Calgary homeowners call for insurance reform, stronger building codes in wake of last year’s hailstorm

Hail damage can still be seen on homes in Calgary’s northeast following a significant hailstorm last year, prompting residents to call for change as they see their insurance premiums skyrocket, or even worse, being denied insurance altogether. 

Cornerstone resident Harlin Kaur says when home insurance on her family’s home came up for renewal — instead of being given a new premium, they were told their insurance company was not covering their postal code moving forward.

That’s when the search was on for a new provider, but they were finding out it was going to cost a whole lot more to have their homes insured, with one company giving them a quote of about $21,000 a year.

Kaur, along with other area residents, are looking for changes ranging from insurance reform to stronger building codes that require better building materials to withstand instances like hailstorms.

“It could help us save thousands of dollars in the end and so much devastation,” says Kaur.

When asked Friday, Premier Danielle Smith says her government may act.

“I have already asked my minister responsible to see if we need to do a parallel kind of review of property insurance that we just finished on auto insurance,” she said.

But the insurance industry says governments need to spend more time instead on requiring more resilient building materials.

“When we see the cost of repairing and rebuilding these properties following hailstorms, it is far exceeding the initial investment that would need to be made to ensure the type of damage didn’t occur in the first place,” says Aaron Sutherland from the Insurance Bureau of Canada. 

But as hail season approaches in Calgary, the area’s councillor is once again renewing his calls for the city to step in to provide at least some supports to residents, like in the past with the Resilient Roofing Rebate Program, that helped hail-affected homeowners beef up roofs with better materials.

“Hopefully tonight when they’re sitting in their living room, when they’re watching this and listening to residents, that’s enough for me to tell them ‘see you heard it firsthand, this is an issue,'” says Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal.

The hailstorm that hit Calgary at the beginning of August last year is the second most expensive event in Canada’s history.

The Calgary area has seen devastating hailstorms in recent years, including the 2020 and 2021 hailstorms that caused over $1.2 billion and $700 million in insured damage, respectively.