Year after year, housing has been a challenge for students, whether it’s housemates, location, or cost. Previously #StopHousingHaste was launched to help ease some of the pressures that come with signing tenancy agreements, but was that enough?
Founded by Percy Lee (PPE graduate) and Josh Leung (Management & Business Management graduate), Two Element has been created to help reduce the panic around house hunting and bridge the gap between students and the local community.
During their undergraduate studies, both Percy and Josh felt very unprepared for student housing, especially as international students. The hectic house viewings and housing contracts were always a challenge to sort out each year.
After graduating, they realised just how much of a problem the house searching process was. It was at this point that they decided to launch Two Element.
Two Element is an easy-access digital service to help students find houses in Lancaster. Operating through its newly launched website, Two Element has taken advice from students, landlords, and letting agencies to develop the Zone System as the solution to the house searching process.
The Zone System operates through three different zones which consist of 10 smaller zones – including upper, middle & lower Bowerham, and the city centre – to help students find the houses they are looking for. Once the chosen zone is selected, all the houses available will pop up.
This system is especially helpful for freshers since users are also redirected to book house viewings. Currently, both Student Housing Lancaster and Yellow Doors are partnered with Two Elements, and Top Dog Properties has expressed interest.
When asked why they felt this project was important for bridging the gap between students and the local community, Percy expressed that “as students, we don’t have many connections to the town apart from shopping.”
After COVID-19, most people shop online, so local shops are dying. We need to support the local people who make Lancaster the community it is and create more connections in the town.
PERCY LEE, TWO ELEMENT FOUNDER
Josh added that “students come from different places, and most of the people who are local are thirty and forty years old so there is a bit of an age gap.” He hopes that Two Element will “tackle this problem and solidify some care, love and good relationships.”
In the future, Two Element plans to introduce a direct channel to landlords as well as housemate messaging. Percy noted that “if you don’t have many friends and you want a house with 5-6 rooms then this will help people connect with others before organising the house.”
It could help reduce housemate arguments and allow people to meet up before signing a housing contract.
JOSH LEUNG, TWO ELEMENT FOUNDER
To find out more about Two Element, click the link here
