NHF: 839,000 Urban Homes at High Flood Risk
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- National Housing Federation reports that 839,000 urban homes in England are now classed as high risk of surface‑water flooding, a threefold rise since 2018.
- Urban homes now comprise eight in ten of the high‑risk homes, with the majority located in towns and cities.
- Thurrock, Basildon, Bootle, Sefton and Southport have the highest proportion of at‑risk homes among constituencies.
- Hackney, Barking and Tottenham in London also rank in the top ten for at‑risk homes and contain the highest share of social‑housing tenants.
- Social‑housing tenants are identified as disproportionately vulnerable to the financial costs of surface‑water flooding.
- Alistair Smyth, director of policy and research at NHF, warned that the fast‑growing threat poses a direct risk to people and families living in social housing.
Why it matters: Social‑housing tenants face a direct financial risk from surface‑water flooding, and the threefold increase in urban flood exposure since 2018 expands the cost burden on the housing sector. The concentration of high‑risk homes in urban constituencies such as Thurrock, Basildon, Hackney and other London boroughs shows that the flood threat is now largely an urban issue.
