Wandsworth Council is creating a dedicated Housing Directorate to bring its housing services under a single senior structure, following a regulatory judgement that identified serious shortcomings in the borough’s social housing. The new directorate will oversee more than 32,000 homes managed by the council and a broad programme covering safety, repairs, resident involvement, homelessness and new housing delivery.
An interim Executive Director of Housing, Bob Granville, has been appointed. Recruitment for a permanent executive director is due to begin immediately. The unit will operate within shared staffing arrangements between Wandsworth and Richmond, although the council says the housing improvement programme in Wandsworth is the main reason for the organisational change.
Accountability and resident voice
The council says the new structure is intended to create a clearer route from tenants and leaseholders through frontline services to senior leadership. It wants residents’ experiences to influence service priorities and investment, with stronger participation in decisions about the homes and services they use.
Its stated priorities include housing safety, repairs and maintenance, alongside more transparent service charges. It also plans to review repayment terms for major works for owner-occupier leaseholders. The authority says progress will be judged through Tenant Satisfaction Measures, the condition and safety of homes, responsiveness and resident engagement. These are intended measures; the announcement does not report that the proposed changes have already improved performance.
Housing is not limited to the council’s landlord role. The directorate will also focus on preventing homelessness and reducing the number of households placed in temporary accommodation. The council says this should improve outcomes for affected households and reduce costs to local taxpayers. It will work with developers to support construction of new homes and aims to strengthen support for residents of housing associations.
Regulatory improvement still to demonstrate
The reorganisation follows a February 2025 consumer judgement which gave the council a C3 grade. The assessment found serious failings in meeting consumer standards and said significant improvement was needed, particularly in safety and quality. It highlighted gaps in electrical testing, overdue fire-safety actions, limited information about the condition of homes and weaknesses in how tenants’ views informed decisions.
At the time of that inspection, almost 80 per cent of communal areas and around 40 per cent of homes had not had an electrical safety test. The regulator later recorded that testing had advanced, with checks completed in 75 per cent of communal areas and 70 per cent of homes, and said the council had plans for the remaining work. It also identified nearly 1,800 overdue fire-safety remedial actions, while noting the council’s assessment that none were high risk. The judgement said the regulator would continue intensive engagement and monitor the improvement programme.
Wandsworth has since established a Housing Improvement and Transformation Board, bringing together residents, councillors, senior officers and an independent chair. The council’s published progress update says the board began meeting in July 2026. Independent reviews of the housing service structure and tenant engagement were also commissioned, with the structural review intended to inform future organisational changes.
The directorate is therefore a further step in a programme already under way, rather than evidence that the underlying problems have been resolved. Its significance will depend on whether clearer responsibility translates into completed safety work, more reliable repairs and a stronger role for residents. The council has not set out a separate timetable in its announcement for when those results should be achieved.
The scale figures refer to different housing measures: the council says the directorate will be responsible for more than 32,000 homes it manages, while the regulator’s judgement describes around 17,000 social housing homes owned by the borough. The new structure brings a wider service remit together; the regulatory grade concerns the council’s performance as a social landlord.
