The president of the Cabildo of La Gomera, Casimiro Curbelo, has announced an initiative to ensure accommodation for the nearly 500 students from the island pursuing higher education in Tenerife, in light of rising rents.
The president of the Cabildo of La Gomera, Casimiro Curbelo, has announced that his institution is working on a proposal to promote a sufficient offer of residential places for university students in Tenerife, where the higher education centres that young Gomeros attend are concentrated.
The initiative, as Curbelo explained, aims to address a structural problem affecting around 500 students from La Gomera who are studying at the University of La Laguna and other higher education centres on the neighbouring island. Accommodation has become a barrier for many young people, who see how the increase in rents and the reduction of available supply hinder access to education.
“We are not talking about a secondary issue. Accommodation can determine whether a young person starts, continues or abandons their studies,” Curbelo stated in a statement released this Sunday. The proposal includes various formulas, such as the construction of new residences, the acquisition or rehabilitation of properties, the arrangement of places with existing centres, or the development of cooperation models between administrations.
The island president emphasised that the new Cabildos Law provides an adequate legal framework to advance in this direction, as it allows for actions outside the island territory when they respond to reasons of general interest. “We must take advantage of that possibility to provide a joint response to a problem shared by La Gomera, El Hierro, La Palma, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura,” he affirmed.
La Gomera has been prioritising education for over two decades, as Curbelo recalled. The island institution was the first public administration in the Canary Islands to provide textbooks to all students at the beginning of each school year and has continuously expanded support for families with study grants, transport aids, and agreements with Canary Islands universities and UNED.
This year, the Cabildo has allocated more than 2.5 million euros to scholarships and aids, benefiting 651 young people. Additionally, it launched for the first time a specific rental aid of up to 1,000 euros per student to mitigate the impact of rising housing costs. It has also increased the investment in the agreement to improve the educational infrastructure of the island to 1.5 million euros, with actions in twelve centres.
However, Curbelo emphasised that individual aids, while essential, do not alone resolve a structural problem. “We need more places, affordable prices, and security for families. We need a student to know, before starting the course, where they will live and how much it will cost them,” he insisted.
The proposal, which is still in the drafting phase, seeks to ensure equal opportunities for young people from non-capital islands. “Guaranteeing accommodation for those who need to relocate is guaranteeing equal opportunities. It is territorial cohesion, social justice, and a future for the Canary Islands,” concluded Curbelo, who called on the island cabildos to work together on this matter.
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