Hyphen

22/05/2025

A proposed amendment to scrap the 'right to rent' bill was rejected in the House of Lords, meaning landlords will still be required to check tenants’ immigration status — a process critics say leads to racial profiling.

Labour peer Ruth Lister had proposed axing the policy as part of the renters’ rights bill — but the government refused

22/05/2025

To close Hyphen's week-long series, Taj Ali writes about how migrants became double victims: often trapped in substandard accommodation while also scapegoated for a social housing crisis they didn’t cause.

Read the full column below.

Scapegoating immigrants won’t improve anyone’s life or create the affordable housing we desperately need

22/05/2025

Grangetown in Cardiff is 30% Muslim and full of rental homes. Though Muslims are the least likely group in the UK to own property, some benefited from buy-to-let.

Dan Evans meets two Muslim landlords to ask what happens as small landlords sell up and global investors take over.

Muslims are the most likely UK demographic to live in social housing, though some have benefited from buy to let. Are those days now over?

22/05/2025

As some of the first Bangladeshi Muslims to arrive at Poplar's Will Crooks estate in 1983, the Ahmeds have had a front-row seat to ' transformation.

Saman Javed visits their home and hears a story of deprivation, hope and, above all, community.

The Ahmed family were among the first Bangladeshi Muslims to arrive at Will Crooks estate in Tower Hamlets. In the 40 years since they have seen their neighbourhood transformed

22/05/2025

An oud maestro, poetry set to electronic music, Palestinian rap and new sounds from the Arab world.

Shubbak Festival at London venues 23 May-15 June, offers an electrifying line-up — and we’ve picked a few artists you shouldn't miss→https://hyphenonline.com/2025/05/20/shubbak-festival-2025-london-music-farah-chamma-liev-dam-etaf-naseer-shamma/

✍🏾Ammar Kalia

22/05/2025

‘Giving money isn’t lazy, it’s about choice. The newly married couple are given the gift of freedom, to spend the cash how they wish.’

Amna Saleem writes in praise of the no boxed gifts invite as this year’s wedding season comes around→https://hyphenonline.com/2025/05/19/wedding-presents-cash-no-boxed-gifts-trend/

📷Getty Images

21/05/2025

Tariq Monsur lives with six family members in his parents’ three-bed flat in east London.

He’s been waiting five years for a council home and told it could take 11 more.

He’s one of many caught in a housing system that’s failing.

✍🏻Lucas Cumiskey

Data from 119 English councils shows that council houses made up just 6% of planning approvals in Labour’s first half-year in office

21/05/2025

On Monday, Keir Starmer joined France and Canada in condemning Israel’s ‘egregious actions’ and calling for a Gaza ceasefire. But how much weight do these actions carry?

Shehab Khan on the UK’s diplomatic shift and Labour’s internal divide.

Keir Starmer joined French and Canadian leaders in signing a joint letter criticising Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Their leverage is limited — but real

21/05/2025

Green party housing lead Ellie Chowns grills the government in parliament over findings from Hyphen's investigation that laid bare the dearth of social rent homes approved during Labour’s first six months in power.

Lucas Cumiskey has more⬇️

Green party housing lead Ellie Chowns took Labour’s Matthew Pennycook to task during debate on planning and infrastructure bill

21/05/2025

What does home look like on a island off the Kent coast?

Photographer Ash Islam captures tender, everyday domestic moments inside ’s small but growing Muslim community, in an exclusive Hyphen photo essay⬇️
What does home look like on an island off the Kent coast?

In this exclusive documentary project, the photographer takes an intimate look at the lives and homes of a small but growing UK Muslim community

21/05/2025

British-Iranian director Babak Anvari is back — this time with a horror film, Hallow Road, rooted in family tension and starring Rosamund Pike.

Read Leila Latif's interview in which the director shares insights about his process→https://hyphenonline.com/2025/05/16/babak-anvari-family-horror-film-british-iranian-director-hallow-road-rosamund-pike/

21/05/2025

Labour peer Ruth Lister proposed axing the controversial and discriminatory 'right to rent' policy by tabling a Lords amendment to the renters’ rights bill. But the government refused to accept it.

✍🏿 Anita Mureithi

Labour peer Ruth Lister had proposed axing the policy as part of the renters’ rights bill — but the government refused