Departure comes after more than a decade at the helm

Fiona MacGregor has decided to step down as chief executive of the Regulator of Social Housing.

The regulator (RSH) announced the news of MacGregor’s planned departure today. She has spent more than a decade at its helm. 

fiona macgregor

She will leave her role at the end of April 2026, with RSH chair Bernadette Conroy working with colleagues at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to appoint a successor.

Conroy said she was “profoundly grateful” for McGregor’s work “in steering the  RSH through transition to a standalone body and the successful expansion of its remit to deliver effective consumer regulation alongside its existing economic regulation”. 

“Fiona leaves us with a lasting legacy that will benefit social housing tenants for many years to come,” she added.

Across her career, MacGregor has worked in various roles at L&Q, the Housing Corporation, and the Homes and Communities Agency, before moving into social housing regulation, first as executive director of regulation and later as chief executive when the RSH became a standalone body. 

“It has been a privilege to lead the regulator for so many years and to work with so many valuable colleagues both within the regulator and the wider sector,” MacGregor said.

“Nearly two years on from the expansion of our remit, it is good to see our new approach begin to drive improvement across the sector.”

MacGregor previously announced plans to leave the regulator in June 2022 “due to family circumstances”, but reversed the decision only months later.

The news comes as the regulator published statistics about stock ownership and rents in the social housing sector. Returns from all private and local authority registered providers, accurate as of 31 March 2025, show that the sector provides around 4.5 million homes across England – a net increase of nearly 38,000 social homes since 2024.  

This has been driven by an increase of roughly 28,000 in affordable rent homes and around a 13,900 increase in low-cost owned homes. There was however a 4,100 decrease in the number of homes for social rent.