The Stevenage & North Herts scheme manages approximately 7,000 housing applicants who put in more than 45,000 bids a year across the two councils.

The scheme works on a fortnightly bid cycle and produces a free sheet called Home4U, which carries all the available properties for letting. In the last year Home4U carried more than 1,000 adverts leading to 773 completed lets.

The scheme went live in December 2006 following the formation of Stevenage Homes Limited (SHL) in October 2006. SHL is an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) that is wholly owned by Stevenage Borough Council. It was formed in order to unlock the funding required to bring Stevenage’s residential properties up to the Decent Homes standard and to manage all of the council’s housing.

SHL joined forces with the North Hertfordshire Housing Partnership (NHHP) to create the scheme. North Hertfordshire District Council, Howard Cottage Housing Association and North Hertfordshire Homes had formed the NHHP in June 2005.

Each organisation has its own policy for the allocation of social housing and the partnership simplifies access to these schemes by providing a single point of contact for all applicants for social housing using the LHS Choice Based Lettings Manager and linked products and services.