The University’s Residence Halls Association passed a resolution last night in support of bringing a gender-neutral housing option to University Housing.

The proposal — called the Resolution to Support and Investigate Open Housing at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor — states that RHA supports gender-neutral housing and that, by January 2011, RHA and University Housing will draw-up a gender-neutral housing or “Open Housing” report.

Drafted by four members of RHA, the resolution also states that the Gender Neutral Housing Working Group — a group created by RHA that consists of students from organizations like RHA, the Michigan Student Assembly and the Spectrum Center, Residence Hall staff members and University Housing administrators — will continue working on developing a gender-neutral housing option at the University next semester.

LSA freshman Trevor Grieb, next year’s RHA president and one of the four people who presented the resolution, said RHA will have meetings to set goals for establishing gender-neutral housing, where it will discuss various methods of accomplishing these goals. It aims to have a portfolio of options ready by January 2011.

“At this point, our ideas are still very broad; very developmental,” Grieb said.

A recent survey conducted by RHA accelerated the process of working toward establishing gender-neutral housing in residence halls, according to Grieb.

The survey showed that about 67 percent of students who responded agree that gender-neutral housing would foster a more inclusive college community. Out of this 67 percent, about 37 percent said that they would pick gender-neutral housing if it were an option available through University Housing. The survey was sent to 9,545 students and 1,785 responded — a 19-percent response rate.

School of Social Work student Allison Horky, a member of the Spectrum Center’s Student Advisory Board, has been involved in the campus campaign for gender-neutral housing. She said the survey helped make clear to the Spectrum Center and other organizations involved in the campaign that students are on board with the proposition.

She added that the proposal is an overall policy change that will alter the way the University structures its housing.

“It will make (housing) more inclusive; make it easier for people to have the living situation that they want,” Horky said.

It is possible that University Housing officials will put together a more complex survey as a follow-up — based on the decisions of the working group, according to Horky.

They are interested in seeing how gender-neutral housing will affect the University, and how it might complicate the housing application, Grieb said.

If officials create this survey, it will be sent out next year, according to Grieb.

As with any large policy change, the gender-neutral housing proposition will have a number of obstacles, Horky said, though time may also be a positive for the advocates of gender-neutral housing, as it will allow them to thoroughly review the proposal.

“The results of the survey tell us what we really know — it’s a question of how we’re going to do it,” Horky said.

Once a final resolution has been drafted, it will be proposed to the University’s Board of Regents for approval.