As 2025 drew to a close, a powerful visual record of London's year emerged through the lens of MyLondon photojournalist Facundo Arrizabalaga. His work, published on 1 January 2026, presented a city of stark contrasts, where a deepening housing crisis existed alongside moments of unexpected urban wildlife and cultural heritage.
The Human Cost of London's Broken Homes
Much of Arrizabalaga's investigative focus in 2025 centred on the capital's acute housing emergency. A key project, titled 'Broken Homes', highlighted the plight of Londoners deemed 'intentionally homeless' after refusing their council's sole offer of a property in Hartlepool - 275 miles away from the capital.
The photographer documented families like Fayza Bouyhia's, who were evicted from temporary accommodation at short notice, leaving her holding her eight-month-old baby with nowhere to go. He visited disused office blocks in Harlow, Essex, where Londoners like Chiara Repetti, who lost her home in Lewisham, are now forced to live in low-quality, remote buildings.
Other images revealed the hidden struggles within the city's own walls. In Croydon, Caitlin Brady showed the valuable possessions ruined by pervasive green mould in a 'luxury' newbuild home. In Streatham, a woman named Abigail feared her ceiling could collapse at any moment. On the Isle of Dogs, Sharmin Khan was photographed carrying her children, including one-year-old Janifa, up and down stairs due to a perpetually broken lift.
Unexpected Moments of Light and Life
Amid the hardship, Arrizabalaga's camera also found lighter stories that define London's spirit. He captured the fascinating moment a flock of deer roamed residential streets in Harold Hill, Romford, bringing a slice of wilderness to the city's suburbs.
In a nod to the capital's rich history, he photographed Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, inside his namesake museum. The series also included autumnal scenes in Greenwich Park, offering a glimpse of the city's enduring beauty.
A City of Extreme Contrasts
The full portfolio of 12 images paints a picture of extreme disparity. One photo shows a West London family crammed into a single hotel room as temporary accommodation, while another depicts Digger Down in his makeshift house under the A12 in Bow. A North London man expressed feeling 'like he's living in a prison' due to squalid conditions, contrasting sharply with the planned redevelopment of the Alton Estate in Roehampton, where Laney Goodfellow posed with her daughter.
This body of work builds on MyLondon's previous investigative focus, which in 2024 centred on a Rough special report on homelessness. For 2025, Arrizabalaga and his reporting colleagues turned their attention squarely to the systemic failures and human stories within the housing crisis, creating an indelible record of the challenges and character of London life.
