Residences and Rooms

A quick guide to housing options for trans, non-binary and other gender diverse students.

With a wide variety of residence and room types available at UBC, use this guide to help you find the residence and unit or room type where you’ll be most comfortable.

Housing options and gender

In residence at UBC, we primarily offer single-gender housing options, but also some all-gender options. The three types are:

Single-gender housing

Rooms and floors in residence for students who identify as women or men—and for non-binary students who indicate a preference to be placed in a single-gender room or suite for students who identify as either women or men.

All-gender suites

All-gender suites are for students of any gender who indicate on their application an interest to live in an all-gender unit/suite, and students may be assigned to live with roommates with the same or a different gender identity.

Availability for all-gender suites is limited, and we can’t guarantee placement, but we do our best to prioritize placement in these units for students who identify as a gender other than man or woman and/or have trans experience.

Beyond gender, when making room assignments, we also consider lifestyle preferences indicated in the application, such as tidiness, alcohol use and sleep habits.

Please note that if you are assigned to an all-gender suite, we can’t guarantee a specific configuration of genders among your roommates.

Washrooms and gender

In our traditional first year residences (Place Vanier and Totem Park) with community washrooms, our washrooms are primarily single gender. However, in c̓əsnaʔəm leləm̓ at Totem Park, we have introduced all-gender washrooms.

In all other Winter Session and Year Round residences, which offer shared suites, in-suite washrooms are shared by roommates and guests, regardless of gender.

Place Vanier and Totem Park

Single-gender washrooms

Most of our community washrooms are single gender. On floors that are all-gender, there are two single-gender washrooms.

All-gender washrooms

In c̓əsnaʔəm leləm̓, located in Totem Park, we offer all-gender washrooms on each floor.

All residents, regardless of gender, use the same washroom.

All-gender washroom features
  • Showers: individual shower stalls, with floor-to-ceiling walls and doors.
  • Toilets: individual toilet stalls, with floor-to-ceiling walls and doors.
  • Sink area: a shared sink area, which can be used by multiple students at a time.

Take a virtual tour of a c̓əsnaʔəm leləm̓ floor by visiting the Totem Park virtual tour and clicking “single traditional room”.