Bedrooms Are For People: Supporting graduate students

By Adalyn Fyhrie. Also published as a letter to the editor in the Daily Camera on October 9, 2021.

"I am a single-family homeowner in Boulder and I support Bedrooms Are For People. While I own a house now I spent seven years as a PhD student living and renting in Boulder, conducting research in astrophysics and teaching. For five of those seven years I was living in violation of the occupancy laws as they are currently written. My fellow graduate students and I found and filled five to six bedroom homes with five to six unrelated people instead of leaving those bedrooms foolishly empty.

The majority of my fellow graduate students also lived in violation of this law out of necessity due to our low salaries. Those of us who did not want to share homes joined the tens of thousands of Boulder in-commuters clogging the roads each day, seeking more affordable rentals in surrounding cities.

The Bedrooms Are For People initiative would help the graduate students of Boulder. We conduct vital research for the university and teach the next generation science, math, arts, and language… But most of us cannot afford to live in Boulder without violating the current occupancy laws. Living in violation of the law leaves us vulnerable to eviction and housing insecurity. Bedrooms Are For People would bring stability and housing security to the graduate students of Boulder.

I support graduate students. I support their scientific research and I support them as teachers, and therefore I support Bedrooms are for People."

Adalyn Fyhrie

Boulder