Gender-Neutral Housing is close to marking its one-year anniversary on the University of Idaho Campus.
Jennifer Skinner, housing customers relations manager, said the gender-neutral housing option has been very successful so far and housing is planning to increase the number of rooms offered in both Wallace and the Living Learning Communities, offering different price points.
“We were about 90% full in our gender-neutral options for the first full year,” Skinner said.
Skinner said to be able to be in a gender-neutral housing, first-year students can opt in on their housing application while upperclassmen can ask the housing office directly.
Skinner said room renewal is already open and the amount of upper level student space has doubled.
Students will not be forced into gender-neutral housing, Skinner said, it is all voluntary students agreeing to live in this option.
Julia Keleher | Courtesy
“In our first-year spaces, so Wallace Residence Center for first years that is their option for gender inclusive housing, we were nearly full, but it was double last year’s numbers,” Skinner said.
For the first year, Skinner said there were two rooms for first year students and that they are excited to grow the program.
Julia Keleher, director of the LGBTQA office, said she had been advocating for several years before the implication of gender-neutral housing on campus.
Keleher said she tries to inform first-year students who have to live on campus but said that everyone should know about this option.
“Gender neutral housing has been very positively received on our campus,” Keleher said. “Students were happy to see the option available to them and many expren ssed an interest in staying on campus to live in the gender-neutral housing.”
The LGBTQA office, Keleher said, has been helping housing with both the design and implementation of gender-neutral housing programs.
Skinner said the LGBTQA office has been doing most of the marketing around gender-neutral housing, and while housing is not going out and telling all potential students about this option, it is listed on their website.
Keleher said this was a greatly needed option on campus and is very happy to be a partner in developing this program.
“While it is open to all students, this option is particularly important for non-binary and transgender students who may not want to live with someone of their legal sex or be recognized by their legal sex,” Keleher said.
Keleher said gender-neutral housing helps LGBTQA students be comfortable while living on campus and gives them a space that affirms their identity.
“Before the option, many LGBTQA students had to live in single rooms to ensure they had a safe space to live. The new option allows them to live with others, save money, and have a mutual understanding of their identities,” Keleher said.
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @kalinelson6