"I prefer an incentive program, so that we could actually help the homeowners."
"The storms are getting more frequent and more severe. They come down so fast, it's hard to be prepared."
"We have to be thinking about those liquidity impacts, especially during a cost of living crisis. A program like this could be a big help, but more could be done to empower homeowners. We need to be providing homeowners with information on how they can reduce the risk. Often, either too much information, or no information is provided. We need to streamline this to make it as simple as possible."
A municipal Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program may be substantially expanded to increase existing subsidies and add new eligible services such as plumbing assessments and backup systems. Proposed changes would raise the total subsidy from $3,400 to $6,650 and could take effect as early as May 2026. The program has received about 59,000 applications and issued nearly $86 million in subsidies since 2007. A July 2024 storm caused widespread outages and over $940 million in insured damage, with more than 160,000 residents losing power. Average flooded-basement costs can reach $54,000, prompting calls for streamlined homeowner information and stronger incentives.
Read at www.cbc.ca
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