September 14, 2026
How Flood Insurance Withdrawal Transfers Black Land to Bond Markets: Risk Rating 2.0 and the New Redlining
On October 1, 2021, FEMA activated the first phase of Risk Rating 2.0 — the most sweeping overhaul of National Flood Insurance Program premium calculations in the program’s 53-year history. Gone were the static flood zones and elevation-based rating tables. In their place: a proprietary algorithm crunching distance-to-water measurements, flood frequency variables, reconstruction cost estimates,