Gender Inclusive Housing FAQs
General Questions
Gender-inclusive housing at UCCS provides a supportive and welcoming living environment for students of all gender identities. This housing option allows students to select roommates regardless of gender, promoting inclusivity and respect within the residential community. It reflects UCCS's commitment to diversity, equity, and creating a safe space for all students to thrive.
Gender Inclusive Housing (GIH) allows for same gender, opposite gender, or other gender identities to live together regardless of sex assigned at birth. This housing option provides an environment where student housing is not restricted by traditional gender limitations. GIH is reflective of the housing choices/opportunities available to students who live off-campus, where they select their roommate of choices irrespective of sex assigned at birth. Placements in GIH are available for students who are looking for a mixed gender on-campus environment and for whom the traditional same-gender room assignments are not ideal or appropriate.
In keeping with our efforts to be inclusive and welcoming of all students, the GIH option is currently open to any student who has requested it as part of their application for housing. Students have expressed interest to administration to allow roommate requests and pairings beyond the traditional same-gender paradigm.
On the Housing application, select “YES” to opt into Gender Inclusive Housing. Be sure to also fill in the information about your assignment gender and the genders you are most comfortable living with. If you have roommates you want to live with, they will need to opt in to Gender Inclusive Housing as well.
GIH assignments are offered in all housing areas of campus and can be utilized in any room type beginning Fall 2024
It is expected that most participants will have a specific individual in mind to live with and depending on housing availability, mutual roommate requests for upper division students will be honored, pending, availability, regardless of gender. For those interested in GIH who do not have a specific roommate in mind, you will be placed with another student who has indicated a similar desire to live in GIH.
All participants will be expected to adhere to philosophies of respect and inclusion. You are expected to be a positive member of the larger campus housing community the same way as any other resident.
Yes, students can request a room change at any time (note that there may be limitations depending on the time of year and the availability of space). If a roommate leaves the unit, the remaining residents will be consulted on whether the unit should continue to be designated gender inclusive or change to a traditional same-sex unit before a new resident would be assigned. Further, the Office of Residence Life and Housing reserves the right to designate units with openings as single gender at any time if needed. If there is a lack of interest in GIH housing, you may be placed in a single gender suite, or your assigned suite may not be full.
Fall 2016 was the first year that GIH was offered at UCCS. From that time, we have shown that between 15 to 25% of new applying students opt in to Gender Inclusive Housing. This is much higher than the 1 to 4 % national average back in 2016 when GIH first started on campus.
Ciara Steck, Occupancy Specialist, can be contacted at housing@uccs.edu or at 719.255.7561.
Students who may need other accommodations (e.g. a single private room) related to gender identity/expression may direction contact Angela Storck, Associate Director of Residence Life and Housing, at astorck@uccs.edu or 719.255.7549.